See who we are picking in the latest celebrity boxing brouhaha.
The Jake Paul show is back again this weekend. The co-star this time around is Tommy Fury. He’s auditioned twice before, but failed to make it to showtime thanks to various ‘schedule conflicts’. Anyways, he’s here now and he has a chance to do what no one else has done yet, shut up Jake Paul.
Love him or loathe him ‘The Problem Child’ has thoroughly disrupted combat sports in the past few years and he’s put together a not totally underwhelming pro boxing record in the process. He’s beaten three former UFC champs and a two-time slam dunk champion, too!
Now he gets to face a Love Island alum.
So who will win? According to us it’s the younger brother of a much bigger star. Check out our reasoning below. And please add your picks and predictions in the comments (even if you’re hoping for a double KO and a city-wide power outage in Riyadh).
Jake Paul vs. Tommy Fury
Anton Tabuena: I think it’s funny that this is being billed as the first time Paul fights an “actual boxer,” when Fury’s actually a much worse boxer than the “MMA guy” in Silva, and probably Woodley too. This will most likely be ugly technically, but Paul has been improving and has more things going for him with better basics and actual power. Jake Paul by TKO.
Zane Simon: Here’s the thing, Jake Paul might be a carnival barker’s idea of a boxing attraction, but there are a couple of things at this point that he’s made abundantly clear. For one, he has long term boxing aspirations that include testing himself in the sport. For two, he actually works pretty hard at it. The fact that he’s been able to rope a bunch of 16 year olds into paying for what would be curtain-jerker bouts under any kind of real big boxing event speaks to a whole number of other cultural trends. And the fact that he’s crafted his entire personality up to (and through) his boxing career on manufactured insincerity makes it real hard to take him seriously. But the improvement is clear, as are the steady steps up in competition. For Fury, he’s an okay boxer living in the shadow of a legend, and it definitely doesn’t seem like even his own family thinks he works hard enough. I’ll take Jake Paul by decision.
Dayne Fox: Tommy ain’t Tyson by any stretch of the imagination. Not to say that Tommy doesn’t have some talent, but he wouldn’t be bothering with the reality TV stuff he’s dabbled in if he wanted to come anywhere close to matching his brother’s legacy. I get that’s a bit of a lousy reason to pick Paul given he started as a social media star, but Paul has proven he’s serious about the sport. Well, at least in combat sports. Perhaps he’ll find his hand in too many cookie jars at some point, but I don’t see that happening quite yet. He’s still got room to improve and given the rate that he has done so thus far, he should be able to outpoint Tyson’s baby brother. Paul via decision
Lukasz Fenrych: It’s always a little tricky predicting fights between novice boxers. There’s always the chance that one of them is just sharper in ways we haven’t seen yet and smacks the other one out of the building. That said, Tommy Fury appears to think he deserves the win because he’s a Fury, and if he takes that attitude into the ring with him he’ll be in trouble. Ultimately, from what we’ve seen of them so far, Paul has focused on doing a few things. He keeps his chin tucked, he jabs well, and he has a nice straight right hand down the pipe. Tommy, meanwhile, tries a lot of different things, but he’s so raw that a lot of it amounts to vaguely waving his hands around with his chin in the air. If he does that here, he’s likely to walk on to something eventually. Paul via KO in the middle rounds
Tim Bissell: This is still a squash match, orchestrated by Paul. He knows he can beat Fury, otherwise he wouldn’t be here. This is just a workout for the Nate Diaz fight that is around the corner. Fury has a name, but a fighter that does not make. Paul seems to have actually put the work in and he’s got enough in his locker to get a stoppage here. Paul via TKO
Staff picking Paul: Anton, Eddie, Zane, Kristen, Dayne, Lukasz, Bissell, Paul
Staff picking Fury: Lucas
About the author: Tim Bissell is a writer, editor and deputy site manager for Bloody Elbow. He has covered combat sports since 2015. Tim covers news and events and has also written longform and investigative pieces. (full bio)