Jake Paul’s next fight on Aug. 13, 2022, will be against Tommy Fury, according to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn.
While many mixed martial arts (MMA) fans were praying Jake Paul may be foolish enough to fight Anderson Silva in the boxing ring, it sounds like he’s taking a much more realistic opponent in Tommy Fury.
Paul announced his plan to return to action last month with a date of Aug. 13, 2022, but no opponent was named at that time. “The Problem Child” rattled off a list of potential opponents, including Floyd Mayweather, Anderson Silva and Michael Bisping; however, according to United Kingdom-based boxing promoter, Eddie Hearn, word is Paul is going back to Tommy Fury.
That’s an opponent Paul was supposed to face in Dec. 2021 before an injury forced Fury out (full details here). Jake went on to rematch Tyron Woodley and knock him out in the sixth round (watch highlights).
“I don’t represent them, but I hear that fight [Paul vs Fury] is happening Aug. 13, so you might see it,” Hearn said in an interview with TalkSPORT. “Both are very limited, but as long as it’s a competitive fight, it doesn’t really matter.”
Fury is an actual boxer with a professional record of 8-0, and also happens to be the little half-brother of WBC and The Ring Heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury. Tommy is also well known in the United Kingdom for his performance on the trashy reality show Love Island, and still gets a decent amount of tabloid headlines.
The hope was that all that reality show / tabloid attention would translate into interest in a Paul vs. Fury fight. That didn’t really happen the first time around, and Paul sounded uninterested in re-booking the fight. But, beggars can’t be choosers, and there hasn’t been too many other choices around. Indeed, Silva is looking too damn good these days, and Floyd Mayweather just took Jake’s brother, Logan Paul, to the cleaners, refusing to pay him for their exhibition boxing match in June 2021.
For a hot minute, Paul seemed very interested in fighting Michael Bisping, but the fact that Bisping is literally blind in one eye kind of stopped that from happening. It certainly proved that Paul would rather fight over-the-hill opponents than someone his age or size.
While Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury won’t set the world on fire with pay-per-view (PPV) sales (something Dana White is certainly going to bring up as a sign “Paulmania” is over), there is one perk to it: if Jake beats Tommy, he can finally say he’s fought — and beaten — a real boxer.
Up to this point in his career he’s faced a YouTuber, an NBA player, and two washed MMA fighters.