After last Sunday’s goofy brouhaha in Dubai, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury may be back on track to potentially fight, possibly, maybe.
Fury’s father, John, who was a shirtless rabble-rouser in the verbal confrontation at the Mayweather vs Deji show, has said that Paul’s manager told them he’ll take the fight for February.
Responding to that claim, Paul put out a Tweet addressed to promoter Frank Warren, indicating that he will go to the United Kingdom for this fight in February.
“I agree to fight Tommy in Manchester or London in February,” Paul wrote on Twitter. “I’ll come to his country, no more running. His baby is due then and you’ve said it’s no issue. Since John is adamant we’ve agreed, I am giving you seven days to present a signed contract by Tommy, or I’m moving on.”
Paul (6-0, 4 KO) is coming off of a decision win over Anderson Silva on Oct. 29 in Arizona, while Fury (8-0, 4 KO) last had a sanctioned fight in April, beating Daniel Bocianski on his brother Tyson’s card at Wembley Stadium.
Paul and Fury were supposed to fight in Dec. 2021, but Fury pulled out late and was replaced by Tyron Woodley. They rescheduled for Aug. 2022, but Fury pulled out late and was replaced by Hasim Rahman Jr, who then also didn’t fight, and instead, Paul wound up fighting Silva in October.
Fury’s exhibition on Sunday was also shrouded in controversy, as he came in heavy on the scale, according to original opponent, Paul Bamba, who was there for an actual, sanctioned fight against Fury. Bamba then withdrew because of the weight issue, and Fury did a truly boring exhibition with Rolly Lambert.
Being willing to do the fight in the United Kingdom is probably necessary, or at the very least it seems unlikely it will happen in the United States, meaning Dubai or Saudi Arabia could also be potential options if someone there is willing to pay a bunch of money for it.
But taking it to the UK also will hamper US pay-per-view sales, though that might also not be as big a deal as it was before, since there is some declining interest in Paul’s fights — they’re still bigger than most boxing events, but declining all the same — and putting it in London or Manchester would mean bigger PPV sales in the UK, where you’ll have prime time there, and Fury is a much bigger name as a reality TV star there than here.
We’ll see. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but I doubt anyone is.