By: Sean Crose
“Recently on social media I’ve seen more shit on me than ever,” says a shirtless Tommy Fury on a video posted to social media Sunday. “I just want to get one thing straight, that the reason this fight didn’t take place is because I couldn’t get in the country, not because I wasn’t training or I wasn’t fit.” The fight Fury refers to in the video is, of course, his scheduled August 6th battle with Jake Paul at Madison Square Garden. The event is still happening as planned, and will be broadcast live by Showtime as a pay per view event. It won’t be Fury who Paul is fighting, however. It will be Hasim Rahman Jr.
Fury has taken a lot of heat for not remaining Paul’s opponent. All that’s certain is that Fury was not allowed into America to promote the fight and, as far as the public knows, still isn’t permitted to step foot on United States’ soil. Hence, Fury’s being replaced by Rahman Jr. Fury, however, wants the world to know that a lack of discipline has nothing to do with his scheduled bout with Paul falling through.
“I was ready and rearing to go,” he says of the moment he learned he wasn’t permitted to travel to America (for reasons that are not public knowledge). “I was at the airport Monday morning with my whole team, ready to fly out and ready to get the show on the road. I could not get in the country and that’s why the fight didn’t happen, so all this bullshit about me not being ready, not training, forget about it. If it does not come from me, don’t believe it because it’s not the truth.” It should be noted that Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, indicated last week he didn’t understand why Fury hadn’t yet gone to the embassy to clear things up.
As for Paul, he’s moving on, preparing to face Rahman. It’s obvious, though, that he’s not happy with Fury. This is the second time, after all, that a Fury fight has fallen through. “I should sue this fool,” Paul posted on social media Saturday, above a picture of Paul with a giant donut in his hand. “Own dad exposes why he pulled out a second time.” Here Paul is referring to Fury’s father, John, who had recently told DAZN that “Tommy wasn’t exactly in training. He’d only had about 10 days because he’d been on holiday and it was a surprising thing for him.”