By: Sean Crose
“I woke up this morning,” Jake Paul said on a social media post, “with another message from my manager saying Tommy Fury is withdrawing from the fight.” Fury, brother of heavyweight boxing king Tyson Fury, is expected to fight Paul in the coming weeks at Madison Square Garden as the main event of the Showtime pay per view card. According to Paul at least, the war may not happen. Paul added: “We are scheduled to have a press conference next week in New York. Paul 5-0 doesn’t have a lot of experience in the ring, but he has proven to be a serious and dedicated fighter, one with considerable knockout power.
Fury, who is 8-0 mostly known as Tyson’s younger brother, has (according to Paul) argued that he will not face Paul because his father – who is on his team – cannot come to the US for legal reasons. “Tommy,” Paul said, “your dad has been banned from the United States for fifteen years.” After that, the outspoken cruiserweight continued to make offers. “I would agree to not have my team around me during fight week,” he said. “I will agree not to fight my coaches in my corner.”
Paul mentions that the lightweight athlete Devin Haney is willing to travel alone to Australia to face George Kambosos for the Kambosos belt. “Real boxers,” says Paul, “they make fights happen. Paul went on to talk about how Fury is damaging his own (Fury) career. “This is the greatest opportunity of your life,” Paul said, “and you’re snooping around for your fucking death, and I can’t believe how stupid you are. Damn fool. ”
Paul captioned the video as follows: “Tommy Fury and fighters like him are the reason the sport is starting to die. Tommy, you have 24 hours to fix this. “Needless to say, Fury actually responded with a post of his own. “The fight is on,” he said. “August 6. Forget a team or any other crap. I don’t need anyone to help me lay you flat on that sheet. Oh and thanks for finally signing on to the drug test… you only agree when you realize the war is at risk – who needs who.”
Of course, it’s worth wondering if this is all advertising for nothing. Paul is nothing but a proficient self-promoter and Fury’s brother, Tyson, is nothing less than a proficient self-promoter in his own right. While this is clearly not a championship level matchup, it will be interesting to see how Paul-Fury goes down. Here’s hoping it actually does.
