Tommy Fury is only interested in a fight against Jake Paul and not the war of words being waged through interviews and social media.
As their fight draws near on Sunday, Fury has heard Paul call him every name in the book and even go as far as revealing that he and his longtime girlfriend had their baby prior to the couple actually having the opportunity to make a formal announcement. Despite all that, Fury promises that his fight against Paul is just business as usual no matter how much the 26-year-old YouTube celebrity wants to turn this into some sort of bad blood grudge match.
“No matter what he says or does, whatever he wants, he can’t make this fight personal because he can’t get underneath my skin,” Fury told MMA Fighting. “I’ve been in this boxing game a long time and I’ve seen people who don’t say a word and would destroy you in 30 seconds. People you should be afraid of don’t say nothing.
“The loudest ones in the room are always the ones who are very insecure, especially in Jake Paul’s case.”
According to Fury, the real measure of a man isn’t determined behind a keyboard or microphone but rather what happens when a bully is forced to back up their words.
He got his first true read on Paul when they came face-to-face in the ring as their upcoming fight on Feb. 26 was being announced. It was during that staredown when Fury says he realized that Paul was a whole lot of bark and not much bite at all.
“I’ve seen him face to face the other night in London and I looked into his eyes and he was either looking past me or on the floor,” Fury said. “The guy couldn’t look in my eyes and I’ve seen a s*** hound before and he’s definitely one.
“The guy can’t fight, he is what he is. If he wants to say some comments, let him try but all this is for me is good business. It’s strictly business and it’s just another man in the opposite corner whose getting knocked out.”
It’s for all those reasons that Fury has issued a rather confident prediction for the fight.
“It definitely won’t go past four [rounds],” Fury said. “But if it’s over in one or two, it won’t surprise me. If you interview me after the fight and said ‘are you surprised it went that early?’ because the first time I land on him, in the body or the head, it’s over. That’s just that.
“That’s the prediction. As soon as I catch him with the first clean shot, it will be over.”
As far as any animosity carrying over after the fight is done, Fury promises he’s not holding onto a grudge right now so it’s tough to imagine he’s going to be seething with anger afterwards.
He actually has no problem stating ahead of time that he’ll gladly shake Paul’s hand after the battle is over but until then Fury going to do everything possible to end his opponent’s night in violent fashion.
“As far as I’m concerned, there’s nothing to put behind me,” Fury said. “Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me and that’s all he’s done. At the end of the day, he is what he is. I don’t know the man personally. We’ve traded a few words over social media and that’s that. This fight for me is business, that’s it. Jake Paul’s not underneath my skin where I don’t want to shake his hand.
“When I knock him out and when we’ve had the fight, yeah, I’ll shake his hand. It’s not an issue and then I’ll move onto the next. Until then, I’m going to hurt this man seriously in the ring and I’m surprised he’s not more worried for his health, to be honest. Because the beating that I’m going to put on him is going to be very bad for him. But once the fight is done, I’m moving on with my career.”
Truth be told for all the attention being paid to the fight, Fury isn’t sold that a win over Paul will really do all that much for his career outside of adding another win to his resume and a few more zeroes to his bank account.
Once Sunday is over, Fury will gladly put Paul in his rearview mirror with hopes that he’ll then be able to move onto bigger and better competition.
“I’ll be 9-0 at the end of the day,” Fury said. “Once he’s knocked out cold, I’m sure everyone will be talking about it for the next week or so but guess what? I knocked out a YouTuber. Everybody expected me to anyway. It’s no big great shakes.
“It’s not the WBC world title. I’ve knocked out an idiot who needed to be knocked out. That’s it. It’s a big event but it’s not a big fight.”