Jake Paul claims the cause for Tommy Fury’s withdrawal from their fight next week was an acute case of “vaginitis.” However, the Englishman claims fractured ribs were the true culprit.
Monday brought the news that the highly anticipated boxing matchup between YouTuber turned pugilist Paul (4-0) and Fury (7-0) was off, after the 22-year-old had to bow out due to a “medical condition.” Fortunately for fans that already purchased tickets for the Showtime Boxing pay-per-view, the promotion was able to find a solid short-notice replacement in former UFC champion Tyron Woodley. The same man who fought and lost to Paul by split-decision in August.
Now, the Ohio native is back out doing the media rounds, and in a Tuesday interview with TMZ Sports, he gave his thoughts on why his originally scheduled opponent was unable to make the fight date. And explained a mixture of pressure and a specific health condition — diagnosed by “Dr. Paul” — forced him out of their fight.
Dr. Jake Paul claims a very specific medical condition took Tommy Fury out of their Dec. 18 fight
“I think the pressure got to this kid. He’s only been put in there against people who were meant to lose. Who have losing records. So when you’re going up against me, it’s scary fighting me on the biggest stage possible,” Paul said. “He’s a young kid, he hasn’t been through a lot [and] he’s had a silver spoon in his mouth his whole life so I think the pressure got to him and cracked him. He has vaginitis is what they’re saying. That’s my diagnosis.
“As a fighter, I’ve fought sick. I fought with a broken nose against Nate Robinson. Last fight against Tyron Woodley, I fought with a hyperextended elbow,” he continued. “As a fighter you have to deal with these things and live up to the occassion. Because the fans are counting on you. The undercard is counting on you and your team is counting on you. So it’s just a big let down and it shows he’s not a real fighter.”
Fury explains how a broken rib and multiple fractures took him out of Paul fight
Obviously, Fury does not have vaginitis, however, the undefeated boxer did finally go public with the mysterious “medical condition” Paul referenced when the news of the fight change was first announced.
“Training camp couldn’t have gone any better for me for the first week, two weeks, but then I contracted a bacterial chest infection, which led to me going to the gym and just not being able to breathe,” Fury said. “I was in my sparring sessions, pad work sessions, whatever it may be, just not being able to breathe and coughing up huge amounts of phlegm all the time.”
“It led me to sleepless nights and that went on for about four weeks because I had the mindset of I’m gonna keep training, I’m gonna get through this, I’m gonna have the fight no matter what. Four weeks passed and we decided to have a sparring session and I took a little clip to the body and because my body was so weak due to the virus inside of me … I instantly knew something wasn’t right,” he said.
“I was throwing up from the pain, I was doubled over, I literally got my bag and went straight to the hospital, straight for an MRI scan, and I got the results back the same day and the results uncovered that I had a clean break in my rib and I had multiple fractures.”
Yet, despite the broken rib and fractures, Fury still had his mind set on competing next Saturday at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla. It took the intervention of the fighter’s doctor, and his team, to persuade the half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury that he was in no condition to compete in the most important fight of his young career.
“I still for the following week thought it’ll be fine, I can fight, and then it really took the doctor and my whole team to really say, ‘Listen, you’ve got a broken rib and multiple fractures here, you can’t fight. Even now sitting here filming this video it hasn’t really sunk in that I’m not fighting,” said Fury.
Are you disappointed you won’t get to see Paul vs Fury next week or is a rematch between Paul and Woodley a more interesting matchup?
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