Tommy Fury has been critical of Jake Paul’s boxing skills, but Paul’s coach BJ Flores thinks that Fury is speaking out of turn.
Following Paul’s decision win over UFC legend Anderson Silva this past Saturday, Fury appeared on The MMA Hour and said that while he feels Paul has improved as a boxer, he doubts that the YouTuber would have much success against even the most average journeyman.
Flores wonders where Fury’s confidence is coming from given that he has only a handful of pro fights himself and that Paul has fought a higher level of competition in his eyes.
“Who has he beat?” Flores said on The MMA Hour when asked to respond to Fury’s comments. “When has he ever been a main event? How many pay-per-views has he ever sold? You know what I mean? I’m not saying he wouldn’t be a good opponent for Jake, he’s 7-0, 8-0, whatever he is, but he hasn’t really fought anybody yet. A lot of people say that about Jake, but Anderson Silva beats Tommy Fury. I don’t care what anybody says. He beats him one-sidedly, no question about it.
“Even Tyron Woodley might give him a lot of problems as well. I just think that Jake’s level of opposition and the big events that Jake has been far outweigh what Tommy has done, but we’ll see, we’ll see if it makes sense. We can’t really comment on that too much, but I don’t think it’s a very difficult fight for Jake.”
Paul and Fury have twice been booked to fight one another, but a December 2021 meeting fell through when Fury withdrew due to injury and illness, and a second attempt to make the fight happen in New York this past August was nixed when visa issues prevented Fury from entering the United States.
Up next, Fury fights Paul Bamba on Nov. 13 in Abu Dhabi. Should he win, talks of a Paul fight are likely to be renewed, but Fury wouldn’t be Flores’ first choice.
“I would rather not, honestly,” Flores said. “I feel like a cat can’t change its stripes sometimes. Whatever, maybe it’s out of his control, maybe he really couldn’t get in the country, maybe he really did suffer a real injury the other time. I don’t know, but it just seems kind of weird to me that two different times he wasn’t able to actually make it to the ring.
“He wasted a lot of people’s time. He wasted Showtime’s time. He wasted a lot of people’s money, training camp money, on a fight that never actually happened. I’d prefer not, but if that’s the direction [Paul’s manager] Nakisa [Bidarian] and Jake want to go, so be it. There’s other people on the list as well, it’s not just him.”
Flores declined to reveal who his top choice for Paul’s next opponent would be and also played coy when discussing any ongoing negotiations. He did say that Paul’s team is eyeing a list of names that includes both boxers and MMA fighters.
“Can you keep a secret?” Flores said. “So can I. I can’t tell you. We’ve got a couple of names we’re looking at and that’s all I can say about it. LIke I said, for negotiations and reasons like that I can’t say, but it’s going to be someone good and we’re looking forward to it.
“Jake wants the biggest names, the biggest challenges, and he deserves those types of fights. He’s taking care of those guys, he’s paying these guys well, he’s giving them full training camps, he’s letting these guys really come in the best versions of themselves and paying them more than they’ve ever made. So it’s fun to be a part of it, but it will be someone very high quality.”
