Jake Paul and Tommy Fury are just about five weeks away from their Showtime pay-per-view main event from Florida, where the two young novice boxers will put their undefeated records on the line in an event way bigger than “two young novice boxers” would indicate.
Paul (4-0, 3 KO) will for the first time face an opponent who is, by trade, actually a professional boxer, though Fury (7-0, 4 KO) has something of a similar status in the pro boxing ranks, in all reality. Paul is famed for being a YouTube and social media superstar, while Fury mostly on his last name and his appearance on the “Love Island” reality show in the United Kingdom.
Paul appeared via video screen to argue with the Fury family at a UK press conference on Wednesday.
Jake Paul
“Training camp is good. I’m pretty much on vacation. We started this training camp two months before these professional fighters started theirs. So we got a head start and we’re cruising along. We’re coasting and this is the best I’ve ever felt.
“They are underestimating me to the highest degree. They can try to teach this kid up as much as they want in a short amount of time but that’s not the way boxing works. Tommy is green. Tyson is trying to train him like a champion but the kid is not a champion.
“I think Tyson should be paid Tommy’s purse because he’s promoting the fight more than Tommy is. It’s nice to have somebody on the other side of the promotion who actually has a following because I’ve been promoting all of these fights by myself. Finally Tyson Fury steps up to the plate and does some promoting. I’m sick and tired of carrying promotions by myself so thank you Tyson, I tip my hat to you. But I’m going to steal all of your fans. I’m going to knock out your brother and be on my merry way. Another payday. Another speed bump on the way to becoming a world champion and the biggest prizefighter in the world.
“These people think they can come in and beat me because they have amateur careers or they’re professional this or they’re UFC that. They don’t understand what they’re getting in there with. It’s funny to see each and every one of them fail in front of the world and the same exact thing is going to happen to Tommy. To me, this is an easier fight than Tyron [Woodley]. This is a young kid who has never had a real fight and I’m going to knock him out. He doesn’t have a chin. He’s never even been hit hard by anybody.”
Tommy Fury
“I’m feeling good. Fit, ripped and ready to go as always. I’ve done hard work on the road. Hard work in the gym. I’m sparring top-quality operators. Olympians, world champions.
“Hype doesn’t win fights. Talking doesn’t win fights. Fighting wins fights. That’s as simple as it is. I’m not engaged in all this. I’ve not been on Instagram because I don’t care. I don’t care what he says, does or thinks. It’s not important because when he jumps through them ropes on December 18 and he realizes I’m not a YouTuber, I’m not a basketball player, I’m not a wrestler, I’m not a UFC fighter, and he gets hit with a nice sharp jab square in his jaw, he’s going to be thinking, ‘What have I signed myself up for here?’”
“I can guarantee in four or five rounds, he’s going to say, ‘B.J. [Flores], pull me out!’ This is easy money for me. Thank you for taking the fight. I’ve won the lottery. I’m going to rob the bank and I’m not going to go to jail for it. So thank you very much. Don’t pull out and I’ll see you December 18.
“You want to pay me millions of pounds to go over there and fight somebody that looks like him? 100 percent, sign me up. This is easy money because this is a bum who cannot fight. I’m going to show that on December 18. When he gets in that ring against me, he’s going to find his level. He’s going to be out of there in the first round because he cannot fight. He can’t dream about beating me.”
Tyson Fury
“This is entertainment. These two young fellas are going to go out there and put it all on the line. Somebody is going to get beaten. Someone’s ‘O’ has got to go and that’s how boxing works. Jake is over there in Puerto Rico training hard. Tommy is here in Morecambe training hard. On December 18, poor old Jake Paul is going to get severely knocked out and that’s it.”
Frank Warren
“For me, this is very exciting because I’ve never been involved in anything like this. This is an ongoing social media feud and it’s brewing and it’s getting worse and worse. Come the night, all the talking will be done. What you’re going to see is somebody in Jake Paul who has done brilliantly in the way he’s promoted himself, he obviously takes it seriously as a boxer, but he doesn’t have any amateur background. And then you have Tommy who does have an amateur background and comes from a traditional boxing family and he’s had several fights as a pro.
“This is a real reality check as far as Jake is concerned. And also for Tommy. Because I expect Tommy to win this fight. I expect him to come through and be successful. But Jake obviously has a big point to prove to everybody. I take my hat off to Jake because he is stepping up to the plate. This is going to be in front of the world. It’s going to be a huge audience. The fact of the matter is, the winner of this fight – which I believe will be Tommy – is going to be one of the most famous people on the planet. They have everything to go for. I’m so excited to see what the outcome is going to be.
“I was skeptical. Absolutely, I was. But I went to Tommy’s last fight when Daniel Dubois was on the card and what amazed me was from the time the doors opened, the place was full. Everybody sat there and watched every fight. Whatever way you want to look at it, Jake brought a new audience to boxing. For boxing, that’s brilliant and I hope it continues to be the case.”