Written by: Lee Bolden. Be sure to follow Lee on Tikok – @leeague
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Since the beginning of boxing, rivalries have been a staple of the fight game.
From Ali-Frazier, to Duran-Leonard, to Pacquiao-Marquez, Paul-Fury is no different. This long overdue fight has bad blood and is sure to have fireworks. Both fighters have everything to lose, and something to prove. As of recently, “Influencer Boxing” has taken not only the boxing world, but the sports world by storm. And the sole pioneer of that is Jake Paul.
Hate him or love him, but Jake Paul has brought a completely new audience to the sport of boxing. With just six fights under his belt (four of which resulted in a KO) Jake Paul has excelled past most boxers in terms of popularity and revenue.
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Jake started his career as a Disney star. He then progressed into a social media star on YouTube with over 20M subscribers. The already successful Jake Paul began his transition into the boxing world as nothing more than social media entertainment as he took on Deji Olatunji in an amateur contest resulting in a TKO in the fifth round.
Since then Jake Paul has fought tougher and tougher opponents, but none were really true ranked boxers. With the majority of his following being casual boxing fans, he has yet to really earn the respect of the true die-hard boxing world. He shocked the UFC community when he out-boxed, then knocked out one of UFC’s most formidable strikers in Tyron Woodley. But the question still remained for Paul – “When is he going to actually box a boxer?”
His opposition in most boxing purists’ eyes has been questionable, but now Jake Paul is hoping to silence all doubters by taking on his first real boxer in Tommy Fury. With an 8-0 (4KO) record, Tommy Fury is undoubtedly a true tested professional boxer. Coming off a unanimous win over Daniel Bocianski, Fury is up to the task.
Jake Paul had his first real boxing test in his previous fight vs the legendary Anderson Silva. Although Silva was out of his prime, he was still game, and the first fighter Paul fought with real boxing experience. Jake showed grit and poise to knock down Silva and pull off a unanimous win. But boxing fans want more–they want a real boxer and Tommy Fury is one.
With the last name Fury, Tommy is carrying the weight of his brother Tyson Fury’s (31-0) legacy into this fight. There is a lot of pressure to live up to the name and show the world that there are in fact levels to the sport of boxing.
Both fighters are coming into this mega fight with pure confidence and bravado. Tommy claims he will stop the hype train in Jake Paul and send him back to social media with a win. Jake, on the other hand, says he will knock Tommy Fury out and retire him from the sport of boxing forever. Some say Tommy has the edge in this fight because he’s fought actual boxers, others note at the fact that every boxer Tommy has beaten has had a losing record.
But none of that will matter Sunday as both fighters have one thing in their mind–win and win in dominating fashion. Will the fight go the distance? Time will tell. Paul vs Fury odds currently stand with Paul being the favorite at (-170) and Tommy (+140), but make no mistake on Sunday somebody’s “0” has to go. A win for Jake would silence any and every doubter, and place him as a serious contender in the boxing world. A win for Fury would propel his career and save him from the embarrassment and memes that would follow a loss to the “Disney Star”. With both fighters having so much to gain and everything to lose, one thing is for sure. This is the biggest fight of both of their respective careers. A two-year-old rivalry will be settled February 23rd in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Lee’s Pick: Jake has been more active, Tommy has more experience… something is telling me a fight of this magnitude will result in a draw. Both fighters will go down at least once, calling for a massive second fight.
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