Tommy Fury will fight little-known American fighter Paul Bamba in Dubai on the undercard of Floyd Mayweather's exhibition bout with YouTube star Deji.
The Love Island star is 8-0 as a professional boxer, but has had a stop-start run during his career due to his reality TV commitments, injuries, scheduling issues and coronavirus restrictions. He was due to make a quick turnaround from his April win over Daniel Bocianski by facing Jake Paul in August, but was unable to make it to New York for the fight due to travel issues.
And now he returns in Dubai, where he has trained in the past, on the undercard of one of boxing's greatest fighters of all time. Mayweather will face YouTuber Deji in an exhibition bout during the main event, while Fury takes on former Marine Corps Bamba, who is 5-2 as a professional.
Talks had been underway for Fury to face former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley, but Mirror Fighting sources have indicated that the bout was never particularly close to materialising. Woodley famously lost twice to Paul last year, and would have been viewed as a good test of both men's level having faced them both in professional bouts.
Fury has instead opted to face the 5-2 Bamba, who recently bounced back from his second career loss by defeating Francisco Morelos in Colombia. He had been defeated just weeks prior in his American debut by the 1-4 Derrick Vann, and will be taking a monstrous step up to face the Brit.
Last time out, Fury defeated Bocianski at Wembley Stadium on the undercard of his brother Tyson's world heavyweight title defence against Dillian Whyte after almost a year out of the ring. Prior to that, he had made his US debut on the undercard of Paul's first fight with Woodley, where he outpointed Bellator fighter Anthony Taylor, whose career successes have come at lightweight.
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The Brit is expected to join a host of other stars on the undercard of Mayweather's return to the Middle East, including a fellow Love Islander in Jack Fincham. The Brit has been training for years after a brief amateur career, but has been unable to make his move into celebrity boxing until now.
Also on the card are Harley Benn, the son of legendary former world champion Nigel and brother of up-and-comer Conor. He will fight an undefeated prospect, while a number of other names have been approached including Taylor and MMA legend Paul Daley.
Fury and his girlfriend Molly Mae Hague, who he met on the 2019 season of Love Island, have recently announced that she is pregnant with their first child. They are the only couple who have stayed together from their season, and have been congratulated public by a host of celebrities including Tommy's brother Tyson.
