John Fury has defended his comments made about Jake Paul's girlfriend in the build-up to the pair's previously scheduled fight in December, saying that they were prompted by Paul's previous comments about son Tommy Fury's girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague.
Fury Sr said that he wanted 'nothing to do' with son Tommy's proposed rematch with Paul after the conduct of the American's camp before Tommy withdrew from the fight due to visa issues. John himself is unable to travel to the US following a conviction in 2011 but has still made lots of comments directed to the Paul camp in recent months.
The most infamous of which was a derogatory comment directed towards the partner of Paul, Julia Rose, in which he said he would "bend his girlfriend over and do her like a dog,". BT Sport were forced to apologise for the coarse language used by Fury Sr in this instance.
READ MORE: Tommy Fury angrily responds to 'bulls***' claim about Jake Paul fight
Now, in a wide ranging interview with DAZN, via Freebets.com., Fury has defended the comments, saying that the war of words was initiated by the American YouTuber. “I think a lot of it stemmed from what he'd been messaging Tommy,” Fury said.
“He was messaging him graphic stuff about his girlfriend. When I saw him, he started swearing first and I don't even swear, but what I said I said.
"When you listen to the graphic stuff Jake Paul is saying about Tommy's girlfriend which isn't nice, the girl was very upset by it and I think my emotions got the better of me. These things happen in life, but do I regret what I said? No, I don't.”
Tommy Fury pulled out of that fight due to a combination of illness and injury and is set to miss the rescheduled fight due to his visa issues. However, in the same interview, the notoriously outspoken John said that the reason was his son's lack of training and current weight.
He explained: "He'd only had about 10 days because he'd been on holiday and it was a surprising thing for him. I was a way out of it doing these tours [with WBC heavyweight champion and other son Tyson] and being busy elsewhere so I never got the chance to look at it properly.
"When I've paid attention, I noticed the whole thing wasn't right anyway. But I said: 'Okay, it is what it is, if you want to go over there and box him, do it. You're experienced enough now and it's a 50-50 platform. I know you could be fitter, you're overweight, but it's entirely up to yourself because I'm busy and I can't do it.'
"So he said: 'Okay then, I'll do my own thing and I'll go fight him anyway because I can beat him.'".