Jake Paul scolds Tommy Fury after her weigh-in on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Paul came in at 183.6lbs and Fury, the half-brother of lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, was 184.5. (Photo courtesy of Skills Challenge)
For much of his fledgling boxing career, Jake Paul-turned-boxer-turned-social-media content creator was criticized for not actually having fought a boxer. He has fought another YouTuber, a retired NBA player, and three MMA fighters (including two fights against former UFC champion Tyron Woodley). His last fight was a win over a 47-year-old Anderson Silva.
So Paul is promoting Sunday’s (2pm ET, ESPN + PPV) fight against Tommy Fury at Diriyah Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as a turning point in his career. He has worked hard with trainers BJ Flores and Danny Smith to transform himself into a real boxer.
And maybe he will.
But fighting Fury, the half-brother of straight line heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, won’t do it.
Not for a long time.
It’s basically a pro wrestling match where they invent a fake beef, orchestrate a storyline where Paul faces his toughest challenge yet, and go out and have an awkward fight to sell pay-per-views and sponsorships . Good luck to the poor Simps who actually buy this, considering the shaky nature of ESPN+PPV offerings and the “talent” this so-called real life boxer brings to the table.
There is a number that defines this fight:
24-176-5.
This is the record of Tommy Fury’s eight opponents ahead of Paul.
You may remember the scintillating fight Fury won on points in his pro debut against Jevgenijs Andrejevs, who was then 10-102-3. Nobody I can remember compared that to Evander Holyfield-Riddick Bowe 1.
And you may still be talking about his second fight against Callum Ide, which Fury stopped in 1:34. No one compared that to Mike Tyson’s first-round KO of Michael Spinks in a 1988 heavyweight unification bout because Ide was 0-26-2 when he faced Fury.
And you may remember the shootout between Fury and Przemyslaw Binienda, which stopped Fury in 1:02 of the first. It wasn’t Marvelous Marvin Hagler vs Thomas Hearns, but that sort of matchmaking has been a theme throughout Fury’s career. Binienda went into the game at 0-26.
The story goes on
We could go on, but you get the point. Fury’s half-brother is one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Whatever Tommy Fury is, he’s not a boxer who poses any threat.
The winner between Jake Paul and Tommy Fury is awarded the invented WBC Diriyah Champion belt. (Portal/Ahmed Yosri)
However, this is what is considered a “big fight” in boxing, which can’t have fights like Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk and Terence Crawford-Errol Spence, but can pit a YouTuber against a reality TV star and act like it is important.
To make this fight even more of a farce, the WBC will give Paul a spot in the top 30 for beating a YouTuber, a retired NBA player and three MMA fighters as he gets past the “real life boxer” Fury .
Someone should remind WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman of Andrejev’s 10-102-3 record when he fought Fury, or Ide’s 0-26-3 mark, or Binienda’s 2-26 record when they fought Fury.
It’s like a mediocre Division III college football team beating a New Hampshire high school football team and making it into the NCAA Division I Top 25 as a result. It’s also why nobody who follows boxing seriously gives any credence to the sanctioning authorities.
Paul tries everything he can to transform himself into a legitimate boxer. And he could still succeed despite the odds against him. Fury, it’s hard to know what to make of him because he’s fighting opponents who are significantly worse than the ones Paul has been criticized for.
The big loser here could be ESPN+ PPV, as they’ll find out that the majority of Paul’s fans are young kids who either don’t buy pay-per-view or know how to find illegal streams to steal and bypass the signal the payment that her hero would otherwise get a share of.
It’s not going to be good boxing, although the show will likely sound like Ali-Frazier III.
If you decide to watch, good for you. Definitely don’t expect a classic fight or anything resembling decent professional boxing. Go in with your eyes open and prepare to drop $49.99 and you’ll be fine.