Tommy Fury says Darren Till is 100 percent to blame for their fight not happening.
Fury and the past UFC title challenger were scheduled to meet at Misfits Boxing 20 in January before Fury announced he wouldn’t face Till any longer after Till continued to say he would use “MMA tactics” in the fight. Fury spoke to IFL TV in Saudi Arabia and got into more detail as to why the fight was scrapped.
“At the end of the day, I’m a professional fighter here, and the reason why I picked Darren wasn’t to then scrap the card, it’s because Darren has not got a business brain,” Fury said. “Darren is what he is at the end of the day. I’m coming here to fight. I’ve had a year and a bit out of the ring. The last thing I want to do is have somebody lost a couple of rounds and do something stupid like take me down, or do whatever.
“I’m not interested in no circus. I know it’s Misfits, and they all love that, but I don’t want want that for my career. So at the end of the day, you got a man on the phone to betting companies or whatever saying he’s going to do this and do that. I don’t need that, to be quite honest with you. So if you want to act like that, no problem, you’ll get replaced. At the end of the day, we’re looking onto a much bigger and better fight. Darren had his chance. He’s an idiot. He blew it for his whole family, and his whole team, whatever. That’s what happens when you think you’re clever and you’re really not.”
After parting ways with the UFC following a stoppage loss to Dricus du Plessis at UFC 282 in December 2022, Till made his boxing debut at Social Knockout 3 in July against Mohammad Mutie. The bout ended in an injury TKO stoppage win for Till, but then all hell broke loose with a near brawl after the bout.
That, along with Till’s promises—tongue-in-cheek or not—to takedown and even kick Fury, was enough for Fury to move on to a much bigger fight, according to the lone boxer to defeat Jake Paul.
“At the end of the day, all people need to do is watch his first and only ever boxing match,” Fury said. “The carnage, stupidness, a ruckus, it was [something] I’m not interested in. I’m not being funny, he’s coming over to boxing, that was the biggest payday he was ever going to get in his life and I was going to give it to him. ...
“I am here to fight. I’m not interested in [rolling around] with Darren Till on the floor. We’re going to get a proper opponent, a bigger and better fight. Darren Till’s in the back of my mind, and he’s nobody.”