Fans divided whether Jake Paul's knockdown of Tommy Fury was legit after ringside footage emerges

Fight fans have been left divided over Jake Paul's knockdown of Tommy Fury after ringside footage of the dramatic moment has emerged online.

Fury won a razor-thin split-decision over Jake Paul as he inflicted a first defeat on the YouTuber-turned-professional boxer.

He survived a huge scare in the final round of their Saudi Arabia showdown to earn the biggest win of his budding career.

Paul landed a left hand on Fury, who dropped to the canvas, with the referee giving him a standing eight count.

But 'TNT' immediately protested the knockdown, claiming he had slipped as he made his feelings known to the referee and his corner.

Ringside footage of the knockdown has since emerged online and has split opinions amongst boxing fans on social media.

One Twitter user wrote: "This shouldn’t even be a debate, the punch causes him to fall over. Yes his balance may have been off, but the punch leads to that reaction. It’s a flash knockdown, definitely not a slip."

A second tweeted: "Definitely a slip, a jab wouldn’t have knocked him down."

A third added: "His foot slips, but it's because of the punch. His balance was off, and the left hand caused him to go down. It's definitely a knockdown. Surprised, there's a debate."

A fourth argued: "Clearly a slip look at his front foot. "

A fifth commented: "It’s a knockdown. Punch caused him to slip. Glove touched, knock down."

Another said: "Can literally see his front foot slip lmao."

Fury, who moved to 9-0 with the big win over Paul, insisted he slipped. Speaking after the eight-rounder, he said: "That was a genuine slip.

"There would be no excuses from my part if I got knocked down, I’d say I got knocked down.

"If I lost the fight, I’d say I lost the fight.

"But that was no knockdown, you could see when I got up I was like, 'No way!'"

But his father, John, sees it differently. He added: "It was a stumble, but a jab caused the stumble, so the referee was right.

"It was a jab and it caused him to be off-balance, but I looked at him, he nodded back, I knew he was okay.

"I said, 'Keep calm and watch what is coming your way.'

"He could have made things a lot easier, but he was carrying the weight of the world, the amount of pressure, the new baby, his name, his whole career was on the line.

"The kid stepped up to the plate and he done it."

Featured Image Credit: BT Sport

Topics: Jake Paul, Tommy Fury, Boxing

Nasir Jabbar

Nasir Jabbar is a journalist at SPORTbible. He graduated from Bath Spa University with a BA in Media Communications. He's a combat sport aficionado and has contributed to MMA websites AddictedMMA and CagePotato. Nasir has covered some of the biggest fights, while interviewing the likes of Conor McGregor, Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Darren Till. He's also an avid Bristol City fan.

@NasJabbar