Jake Paul loses for the first time in a fight against Tommy Fury in Saudi Arabia

• Jake Paul lost a fight for the first time in his fledgling boxing career.
• Tommy Fury, a fellow novice, edged the American in a bout of below-average quality.

Jake Paul just lost a fight for the first time in his fledgling boxing career.

The YouTuber-turned-prizefighter has made a fortune in recent years by feasting on an overmatched creator, a former basketball player, and past-prime MMA fighters.

However, at an event on Sunday in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, the 26-year-old faced an actual boxer for the first time and swiftly unraveled.

The fight transcended the boxing world to captivate mainstream interest because of Paul's status as an internet sensation, and his former reality TV star opponent, Tommy Fury.

So, while this bout did not showcase the very best of boxing, Fury — a novice from Britain — still showcased a modicum of skill that offset Paul's vaunted power.

His boxing nous, cardio, and ability to pace the fight properly were also a stark contrast to Paul, who struggled to fight as competently toward the end as he did in the first half of the fight.

Fury was, by far, the more productive fighter

And, though Fury had to get up from the canvas after the American scored a mid-fight knockdown, he had still done enough to earn an eight-round decision win courtesy of three ringside judges.

Fury was by far the more productive fighter by the closing bell as he landed 88 shots from 302 thrown, compared to Paul's 49 from 157, according to Compubox data sent to Insider.

The judging was tight, with narrow scores of 74-75, 76-73, 76-73 separating the boxers.

"All the way through these two years, I had a dream," said Fury, in the middle of the ring, during his post-fight victory speech broadcast on ESPN pay-per-view in the US.

"I had a vision that I would win this fight, and no one believed me," Fury said.

"Now I can stand up and everybody can take note. In my first main event, at 23 years old, I had the world on me. I had pressure on my shoulders, and I came through."

Jake Paul: 'I fell flat'

Paul, meanwhile, disputed the result, saying he felt like he had done enough to earn the win on the scorecards. "I don't think I agree with the judges," Paul said.

He later added: "But I lost … I'm not making excuses. I'm just saying it wasn't my best performance. I fell flat."

Other figures in boxing were not sympathetic to Paul's defeat.

Carl Froch, a Hall-of-Fame fighter from the UK, laughed at the verdict and lauded Fury.

"He's done professional boxing purists a massive favor by shutting up Jake Paul," Froch said on the BT Sport broadcast in the UK.

"He can't call himself a professional boxer because he's gone in against a novice pro and got absolutely whooped," the former super middleweight world champ said. "He got obliterated."

Paul is contractually obligated to a rematch against Fury but it is unclear if, or when, that bout will go ahead.