Tommy Fury isn’t impressed with anything Jake Paul has done during his six-fight professional boxing career.
Tyson Fury’s younger half-brother believes Paul is in for a rude awakening when they finally fight February 26 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia because none of his five opponents prepared Paul for what awaits him in their eight-round cruiserweight fight. The 23-year-old Fury will be the first professional boxer Paul (6-0, 4 KOs) will oppose in a pro career he launched in January 2020, when Paul stopped fellow YouTuber Ali Eson Gib in the first round.
“He beat a 50-year-old man,” Fury told BoxingScene.com. “He’s beaten a washed-up MMA fighter, a 140-pound or whatever Tyron Woodley was at welterweight. He beat an NBA star [Nate Robinson], a wrestler [Ben Askren] and another YouTuber. I think they’re the six. So, at the end of the day, I don’t reckon there’s anything to him at all. I think it’s gonna be light work. I’ve trained for Jake Paul like I’m fighting Artur Beterbiev for all the glory. So, he really is f—–. He’s got nothing in his arsenal that can keep me, you know, away from knocking him out.”
Anderson Silva, a UFC legend who was 47 when Paul beat him by unanimous decision October 29, is the “50-year-old man” to whom Fury referred. The Brazilian southpaw was competitive with Paul, who recorded a knockdown early in the eighth round and won by scores of 78-73, 78-73 and 77-74 in their Showtime Pay-Per-View main event at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The 26-year-old Paul, of Westlake, Ohio, viciously knocked out Woodley in the sixth round of their rematch. Woodley replaced England’s Fury (8-0, 4 KOs) on short notice for that December 2021 bout in Tampa, Florida because Fury suffered a rib injury and a chest infection during training camp.
Paul-Fury was rescheduled for last August 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York, but Fury withdrew again due to a visa issue that prevented him from traveling to the United States. Heavyweight Hasim Rahman Jr. stepped in for Fury, but the card was canceled altogether once Rahman revealed that he couldn’t get down to the contracted weight limit of 200 pounds.
Those two withdrawals have prompted Paul to repeatedly question whether Fury truly wants to fight him, but Fury hasn’t taken any of Paul’s taunting personally.
“I don’t really read anything into it,” said Fury, who will participate in his first eight-rounder. “It’s just business for me. Jake is just another man in the opposite corner. And he’s gonna get knocked out. He’s just another opponent on my way to a world title.”
The bout between Paul and Fury, which will be contested at a catch weight of 185 pounds, will headline pay-per-view shows in the United Kingdom and the United States. BT Sport Box Office will distribute it in the UK and Ireland (price TBA) and ESPN+ Pay-Per-View will provide it in the U.S. ($49.99; 2 p.m. ET).
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.