Frank Warren would understand if Jake Paul moves on to another opponent for his August 6 fight date, but is refusing to rule out Tommy Fury still making the fight.
The veteran boxing promoter seems to echo Paul and his team's sentiments that there is hope for Fury to travel to America, despite being told he couldn't last week. There appears to be a belief that the Love Island star's issue could be solved with a visit to the US Embassy, but he has been dragging his heels about making an appointment.
And Paul, who was excited finally face a 'legitimate' boxer in the 8-0 Fury, appears to have made up his mind already. He informed fans during the week that he told his team to "move on to the next one" and call off a second fight date between the pair.
But Warren is still holding out hope, telling iFL TV : "He [Tommy] has got to get to the Embassy, but no appointment has been made yet. I can understand where they're coming from. They've got a show to run or whatever and if we can't get it sorted out then obviously they'll go to another opponent so we'll just keep working on it and trying to make it happen."
However, the Paul side really do seem to have made peace with losing out on the fight, teasing news of a new opponent on social media. His promotional outfit Most Valuable Promotions, which he runs alongside manager Nakisa Bidarian, posted a series of messages, including once again suggesting a move to MMA.
But it was their video of Paul at Madison Square Garden during promotional shooting from Wednesday, and a subsequent message, that piqued interest. They wrote "When one door closes, another one opens," seemingly indicating the closing of a door with Fury.
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They have had to say goodbye to the Fury clash once before in December, when the Brit pulled out with a broken rib from their scheduled date. Instead, Paul faced former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, landing a highlight reel knockout but losing millions after the event performed poorly on pay-per-view.
He had already faced Woodley, and despite one judge scoring their August contest in the MMA legend's favour, fans felt his win was comfortable enough. The PPV audience were keen to see the YouTuber move on to a real boxer, and Fury was seen as a great candidate given his record, limited skillset and his family ties to world heavyweight champion Tyson.
But the fight fell to the wayside, before Paul revived it this summer in the hopes of finally proving doubters wrong. The initial plan for the American's August return was to face UFC star Nate Diaz, but he never ended up getting the final fight on his contract, so he is still locked into the MMA promotion.
