Jake Paul 'living in a movie' after defeating hero Anderson Silva in entertaining bout

Jake Paul said he feels like he's "living in a movie" after the YouTuber-turned-boxer defeated childhood hero and UFC legend Anderson Silva on points in an eight-round boxing bout on Saturday night.

Paul (6-0) won a unanimous decision against Silva — punctuating the victory with his eighth-round knockdown — as he continues his quest for respect after starting to take boxing seriously just three years ago.

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“It’s surreal,” Paul, 25, said. “I don’t think it’ll hit me until a couple weeks from now. I feel like I’m living in a movie. (Silva) was the one that told me I could accomplish anything if I set my mind to it. You couldn’t have written this in a story.

“I had to go in there and match his heart tonight,” Paul added. “The heart that I saw through the TV screen when I was a kid.”

The entertaining fight went the eight-round distance and the final round ensured it ended on a high, with Paul’s right hand sending Silva to the canvas. The 47-year-old Silva was able to continue and even landed some punches in the final minute, but it wasn’t enough to sway the judges.

“That wasn’t even the hardest punch of the night,” Paul said. “It was just the timing.”

The fight was slow to develop, with Silva rarely throwing punches in the opening round, but the Brazilian landed a few hard shots in the second, dancing around the ring while avoiding Paul’s biggest blows.

Both fighters exchanged some taunts in the early rounds but the bravado gave way to concentration as both realised it would be a lengthy fight.

Paul held his own during the middle rounds — with blood coming from Silva’s nose — but couldn’t land most of his powerful swings. That started to change in the later rounds as the younger Paul gained confidence and the punches started connecting.

Two judges scored the fight 78-73 while a third scored it 77-74.

“He took so many hard shots throughout the whole fight,” Paul said. “The dude is a real dog. You see what happens to everyone else that gets hit with that. He’s the toughest guy in the world but I just wanted it more.”

It was a spectacle in front of more than 14,000 fans at Glendale, Arizona that mixed boxing and all different types of celebrity, but the main draw was the 25-year-old Paul, who has shown a surprising knack for skills in the ring.

He is also a master of self-promotion, riding up to Wednesday’s open workout on a horse and walking around Desert Diamond Arena on Saturday with two people in gigantic Transformers-like outfits behind him.

Silva (3-2) was the fan favourite, receiving loud cheers when he entered the ring. He built his fame as a UFC star but got his start in boxing and returned to the sport in 2020.

“That’s the game,” Silva said. “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. But nothing will change in my life. I’ll continue training hard because I’m born for this.”

Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
Travel distance: Limited
Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
Duration: Can linger for days
Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
Source: Can be carried from distant regions

Why seagrass matters

Carbon sink: Seagrass sequesters carbon up to 35X faster than tropical rainforests
Marine nursery: Crucial habitat for juvenile fish, crustations, and invertebrates
Biodiversity: Support species like sea turtles, dugongs, and seabirds
Coastal protection: Reduce erosion and improve water quality

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UAE currency

Jigra

Director: Vasan Bala

Starring: Alia Bhatt, Vedang Raina, Manoj Pahwa, Harsh Singh

Rated: 3.5/5

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'Gehraiyaan'

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The smuggler

Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.

Khouli conviction

Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.

For sale

A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.

- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico

- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000

- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950