Is Tommy Fury going to be the next opponent for Jake Paul?
Even as Paul continues to troll Fury on social media on a daily basis, it’s a question that remains without a definitive answer. The two boxers have been in talks for a year-end showdown, and Fury said Wednesday on The MMA Hour that although he hasn’t heard any updates over the past week while he’s been in Las Vegas to support his half-brother Tyson ahead of the Deontay Wilder trilogy, he’s “fairly confident” they’ll be able to get a deal done.
“I’m ready, like I’ve said all along,” Fury said on The MMA Hour. “This fight, anybody who knows me and has seen me train in the gym and has seen my performances in other fights knows that I’m way too much for Jake Paul and knows this is a mismatch. So whether he really wants that fight, I don’t know. I know he’s offered some money about it. I know he’s done this and done that, but the offers that he was putting in were terrible.
“I know I can squash a Jake Paul all over that ring, because what is he? He’s a YouTuber and he’s gotten into boxing, he’s a man with a pair of boxing gloves. He ain’t got no talent. What has he got? We saw that in the Tyron Woodley fight. He was doing eight rounds, Woodley never threw a punch and [Paul] got gassed out and he was looking at the clock every round, so what’s he going to do with me who’s going to be pressing him every second of every single minute in that fight? He’s going to crumble and that’ll be the end of him.”
Fury, 22, has been closely linked to a fight with Paul since he made his August 29 stateside debut on the undercard of Paul’s match against former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley. Fury won a unanimous decision on that card over Paul’s training partner, former Bellator fighter Anthony Taylor, to push his professional boxing record to 7-0. And although Fury admits that his own performance was lackluster, he was far less impressed by what he saw from Paul’s eight-round win over the former UFC welterweight king.
“I thought it was absolutely shocking,” Fury said. “Listen, my performance wasn’t the best, was it? But his performance was absolutely shocking. Absolutely diabolical. He got hit with one shot, nearly fell through the ropes. His footwork is awful. He doesn’t move his head at all. He’s just what he is, isn’t he? It looked a bit fishy from my eyes, to be fair, because once Woodley hit him with that right hand, he stood off [Paul]. He was through the ropes.
“Now if that would’ve been [me], I’d have been all over him, smashing with 10 or 12 punches all about the head. But I don’t know. Listen, he is what it is, isn’t he? He’s a novice. As much as myself, but he’s more of a novice than me.”
Fury and Paul had a run-in backstage in the aftermath of the Paul vs. Woodley event and the two have been sniping at each other in the media ever since.
Paul fired off the latest salvo in late September when he issued what he called a “final” warning to Fury to accept the terms of their proposed bout. In the message, he warned Fury not to lose the opportunity to fight him as Bellator fighter Dillon Danis did in prior negotiations and told Fury bluntly that “no one gives a f*ck about you if it wasn’t for your older brother, who I respect, or your catfish girlfriend. We all made you famous.”
Fury is in a well-publicized relationship in U.K. circles with Molly-Mae Hague, an English television personality who he met on popular U.K. reality show Love Island.
When asked about Paul’s message, Fury couldn’t help but laugh.
“I can’t even talk about that because it’s just that much silliness,” Fury said. “And the reason why everything’s bullshit in when he’s saying is because I’m not replaceable. And the fact that I’m not replaceable is that everyone’s sick of seeing him fight these same fighters, UFC this, UFC that, old record, old men. There’s no one else out there with a brother like mine, the best fighter in the whole entire world — WBC lineal world heavyweight champion — and me below him in the same category as Jake Paul with clout I’ve got. Name me one other boxer who’s had seven professional and gotten the recognition that I have.
“Fair point, it might be from another thing, but still the recognition is there. There’s nobody else, and that’s the reason why this fight is still getting talked about and negotiated, because he knows how big this fight is. And if he went off and fought another UFC man, people would start losing interest, and he knows that. But all of what he’s saying there is stupid, it’s absolutely stupid. … I know it’s cliche for a boxer to say, but there will be no game plan for that fight. I’ll go straight over to him and I will annihilate Jake Paul.
“He’s tailor-made for me,” Fury continued. “He doesn’t move his head. He’s useless anyway — I’d like Jake Paul hit me for fun. He’s no good. So I’m sick of people comparing the fight between me and him. There is no fight. I’ll go in there and it’s a surefire victory for me.”
Fury made it clear on Wednesday that a fight with Paul remains his preference, but added that he plans on fighting again in December regardless of whether or not a deal gets done.
“Listen, I’m not about to put my career on standstill for someone like Jake Paul, a YouTuber,” Fury said. “I’m a professional athlete, a professional boxer who’s been doing this a long time. Jake Paul or no Jake Paul, you’ll see me back in the ring in December.”
Fury also pulled a trick out of Paul’s bag and left with one final message for his controversial American rival.
“When me and you get in the ring, kiss goodbye and don’t ever put on a pair of boxing gloves ever again, because it’s over for you,” Fury said. “I’m going to send you straight back to where you belong — jumping off bridges on YouTube and messing about, because you don’t belong in my world, mate. And you’re going to find out very soon. So keep talking.”