Tommy Fury was scheduled to box Jake Paul last month in Tampa, but “TNT” was hit with a chest infection — then broke his rib in training — and was forced to withdraw. That opened the door for Tyron Woodley, who looked to avenge his Aug. 2021 loss to “The Problem Child” but instead went face first into the canvas.
And the only thing Fury could do was watch from his couch.
“The main injury was obviously the broken rib, and I was planning to fight through the chest infection,” Fury told The MMA Hour. “But when I got the broken rib, that put the icing on the cake. It was during a sparring session, if you want to call it that. My team said there are a lot of things you can fight with, you can’t fight with a broken rib. Any serious fighter will tell you that. Why on earth would I pull out of this fight? I was being paid handsomely.”
Following his knockout victory over Woodley, the 24 year-old Paul was noncommittal on his return to the “sweet science” and announced plans to take a lengthy vacation. If and when “The Problem Child” does make his boxing comeback, the still-recovering Fury is hoping they can settle their “unfinished business.”
“My only thing that I want to get done now is this fight to be rescheduled,” Fury continued. “When somebody gets an injury that is completely out of their hands with a broken rib, the first thing I would want to do if I was serious about fighting is think. ‘I gotta beat that guy … when can we reschedule? I want this fight rescheduled and prove to the world I can beat a serious boxer, not just another MMA guy.’ There’s unfinished business here.”
These days, Paul (5-0, 4 KOs) seems more interested in trolling MMA fighters and continues to get UFC President Dana White to engage him on social media. As for Fury — half brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury — he improved to 7-0 with four knockouts by outpointing Anthony Taylor last Aug. in Cleveland.
“How can he be serious about fighting if he’s never fought a serious boxer before?” Fury said. “He keeps referring to the UFC. If he wants to go fight in the UFC, don’t put on a pair of boxing gloves again and go fight in the UFC. Don’t call yourself a boxer if you’ve never even fought one. And that’s just how I think. The recovery process is going amazing, I got another MRI scheduled for this month to see where the rib is. Once I get confirmation it’s healing or healed or wherever I’m up to, I’ll be back in the gym. If Jake Paul is really serious about boxing, I’m ready to go in March. What happened in December is out of my hands, but March I’m ready.”
He may be ready, but Paul may no longer be interested after this troubling news.