Jake Paul has suggested Tommy Fury is "mentally weak" after his rival avoided their first face-off in Saudi Arabia.
The YouTube star will step into the ring f or the seventh time as a professional this weekend when he takes on ex-Love Island winner Fury in Saudi Arabia on Sunday night. Paul and Fury have shared a long-term rivalry which has seen two previous meetings fail to materialise, but the pair are finally closing in on settling the scores in the boxing ring.
Fears once again sparked that the fight could collapse with Fury electing not to sit down with Paul as part of a BT Sport face-off in London last month to launch the showdown. The British star was then unable to attend the press conference in the Middle East, with Paul left angered after it emerged the Briton did not travel due to personal reasons.
Despite Fury now being in Saudi Arabia and making the final stages of his preparations, Paul believes his absence from the face-offs hands him an advantage prior to their ring meeting. "Man I'm used to it with this f***ing kid at this point," Paul told BT Sport during a supposed face-off without his rival in attendance. "It is what it is man.
"At the end of the day he has to get in the ring and that is all that matters. It got heated in our last face-off[ London], I was just going to do a face-off but he put his head on my head and it was quite hostile. I don’t think he wants to sit here and engage in these types of conversations. I think he’s mentally weak. I was looking forward to making him look like an idiot. Tommy disappeared bro. Tommy you’re a *****. You’re f***ing scared and you’re soft as **** for that.”
Fury has flown out to Saudi Arabia nonetheless and is set to go face-to-face with Paul again at the fight week press conference and weigh-in ahead of their bumper showdown. There is significant pressure on the shoulders of Fury given his status as a natural boxer from the sport, which is also added to by his heavyweight world champion brother Tyson.
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However the 23-year-old has insisted via his father John that his trip to the Middle East feels like a holiday and he is ready to end their rivalry with a bang. "At the end of the day this is just what it is," John Fury told Mirror Fighting . "It's an holiday and a decent payday but it's an easy fight for Tommy. We're looking at big honours for Tommy, we're looking at Tommy winning world titles in future.
"Tommy will come through. You can't say what's going to happen in the future with Tommy but you can say that he's going to give them all a run for their money. All those ones who think Tommy can't fight, you're going to be in for a shock."
