The vitriol has long been brewing. The matchup has long been anticipated. The stakes have long been intensifying.
And for Tommy Fury, it’s gone on for far too long. Finally, he’s within touching distance of laying it all to rest.
The 23-year-old Fury, a former “Love Island” star and half-brother of WBC heavyweight champion and all-time great Tyson Fury, has twice had bouts scheduled to fight YouTube-megastar-turned-boxer Jake Paul. They had agreed to fight in December 2021, but Fury was forced to withdraw after suffering broken ribs and a related illness while sparring in training. They also came to terms to fight last August, but a Visa issue prevented Fury from being able to travel to the United States from England for the bout.
Once again, they have a fight booked. Fury and Paul are scheduled to fight in an eight-round, 185-pound catchweight bout on Feb. 26 (ESPN+ PPV, 2 p.m. ET) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Third time’s a charm? If it’s in Fury’s hands, he promises they’ll both get their long-awaited moment.
“The only thing that can screw this up now is Jake Paul, because I’m fit, I’m in shape, I’m ready, I’ve been ready, and I’m ready for this man,” Fury told The Post from England during a lengthy Zoom chat. “There’s no sweeter sound to my ears than hearing me and Jake Paul are getting it on on February 26 because I’ve got a lot of things I want to put to bed come fight night. A lot of people are saying this is gonna be a 50/50, well, tune in on the night and you’ll see what 50/50 looks like. I don’t give Jake Paul any chance at all, and he’d be lucky to survive four rounds in there.”
After the first two attempts fell apart, Paul publicly blamed Fury and ridiculed him for not being serious about fighting him. Following the second canceled fight in August, Paul told The Post “I think the pressure cracks him. He definitely doesn’t want the fight,” before calling him a “clown” and a “joker.”
The two never stopped going after one another on social media, and Paul accused Fury of being scared of him and making excuses to get out of the bouts. In the meantime, the 26-year-old Paul, who has started his newfound boxing career 6-0, pivoted to ex-MMA stars Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, both of whom he defeated. Fury, who is 8-0 at light heavyweight, defeated Daniel Bocianski in his one fight since he and Paul became intertwined.
During the Artur Beterbiev-Anthony Yarde card on Jan. 28 in England, Fury and Paul came face-to-face in the ring to promote their fight, and subsequently had to be separated before getting into a war of words.
“He was making out to all his people on social media that I was running scared, that I was this and I was that,” Fury said. “But the reasons the fight didn’t go ahead before were genuine reasons. … And I said to him, when I saw him face to face, I said ‘you’ve had two very lucky escapes from this fight, and you should have taken them. Because you don’t know what you’re in for.’ And come February 26 he’s going to wish that he never even looked in my direction, because all this hype train that everyone’s putting him on, it will be ended in a few short weeks. I guarantee you that.”
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In emerging as a pay-per-view star, Paul has constantly antagonized and trash-talked his opponents to build pre-fight hype. His brashness in calling others out, regardless of their stature, has become part of his identity.
This feels different, however. The resentment between Paul and Fury seems personal, more than just words for the camera. It’s been growing across the two years they’ve eyed each other to fight, and had been building throughout their burgeoning careers beforehand.
Paul has also taken it a step further, roping Fury’s family into the discourse. Promising a win, Paul has repeatedly told Fury he’s going to embarrass Tyson and the Fury family name when he knocks him out. When Fury and his girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague – whom he met on “Love Island,” finishing runner-up in the fifth season – shared a photo of their newborn on Instagram recently, Paul commented, “just in time to watch your dad get knocked out.”
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Does Fury think Paul crossed a line?
“At the end of the day, this is just business for me. It’s business,” Fury said. “The man is what he is. He’s a clown, he’s an idiot, he says some stupid s–t, and that’s it. That’s as good as it gets with Jake Paul. You know what you’re dealing with, because you’re just dealing with an idiot. There’s nothing he can say or do to get underneath my skin, he’s just another opponent, and another fight for me, and somebody who’s getting knocked out. He’s in the opposite corner, and I’ve got to get him out of the way. And that’s it. I don’t see it as anything more or anything less.
“He can value this fight as whatever it is, but for me, it’s a stepping stone in my career, in my professional career I might add, on the way to titles, and I’m not getting involved with all the bulls–t back and forth. He is what he is. Come fight night, he will shut up, because of all those insults and his mouth, they can’t save him from what’s happening to him.”
Since entering the sport, Paul has anxiously waited to fight a true professional boxer. So far, he’s fought other YouTubers, ex-NBA stars and ex-MMA stars. Although he recently signed a deal to fight in the Professional Fighters League, he still holds deep ambition in boxing and is obsessed with proving he belongs in the sport.
For his own part, Fury recognizes this is the biggest event of his career, even if he doesn’t view it as the best opponent he’s faced, due to the anticipation and amount of eyes that will be watching.
“At the end of the day, how lucky am I to be the first man to get the first shot of shutting this man up? And to get him out of professional boxing,” Fury said. “When me and him were face-to-face in the ring, he could barely look at me. We’ve never seen Jake Paul like that before. He’s always a loud-mouth, talking this, that, this, that. He couldn’t look at me. He was very shaken. And I see, time and time again when I can look in somebody’s eyes, I’ve grown up around fighters my whole life, I’ve fought hundreds and hundreds of different fighters over the years I’ve been doing this. And I looked into his eyes and he’s not a fighting man.
“He hasn’t got what it takes, he thinks this is all a game, a little dance, social media this and that. It’s not. It really isn’t. We’re in the hurt business. And as soon as that bell goes on the night, I’m looking to hurt him, doing damage and get him out of there. But he’ll soon realize that you can’t play boxing.”