Jake Paul Earns New Respect in Boxing with Victory Over Woodley in Cleveland (PHOTOS)

Paul, the 24 year-old YouTube star-turned-pro boxer, was the hometown hero, fighting in front of a sellout crowd of 16,000 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.

In the eight-round main event at a contracted 190-pound weight limit, Paul landed 71 punches to 52 for Woodley, including a 22-6 edge in body shots. Paul also absorbed some thunderous punches from Woodley, the former UFC champion.

Paul hit Woodley with some powerful punches of his own—and improved to 4-0 as a professional boxer.

Two judges scored the fight for Paul by 77-75 and 78-74, while a third scored the fight 77-75 in Woodley’s favor.

After the fight, Paul was complementary of his opponent.

“I don’t know what to say, he’s a tough opponent,” Paul said. “He’s been doing this for 20 years. I’ve been doing it for three. It was tougher than I expected. He put up a good fight. He’s a good boxer. I have nothing but respect for him.”

Woodley, 39, maintained that he won the fight and would like a rematch.

“I feel like I won the fight,” Woodley told reporters. “I feel like Jake is a great opponent. I came in great shape because I knew he could take a punch. No disrespect but fuck the [Tommy] Fury fight, Jake and I can run it back. Nobody is going to sell a PPV like we did. I felt like he was tough. I hit him and the ropes held him up.”

“I don’t know what to say, he’s a tough opponent,” Paul said.

The fight was produced by Showtime and available on a pay-per-view basis for $59.99.

Paul seemed cool on the idea of an immediate rematch with Woodley after 18 consecutive months of boxing.

However, Paul did say he would give Woodley a rematch if he got a “I love Jake Paul” tattoo in the locker room that he’d promised to get before the fight if he lost.

There were also a number of celebrities, fighters and Olympians on hand to watch to the fight, including Ohio-native Dave Chappelle, Dustin Poirier, Andre Berto.

See photos from the Jake Paul versus Woodley fight below:

Photos from Getty/Showtime