2 weeks ago
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TOMMY FURY has been told to get realistic or face losing out on millions to rematch Jake Paul.
Fury became the first and so far only to defeat Paul after winning their February 2023 grudge match by split-decision in Saudi Arabia.
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GettyAnd the two have since been linked with a rematch with talks progressing throughout this year.
Fury, 25, last fought in October 2023 defeating Paul’s arch YouTube rival KSI, 31, via controversial decision.
But he was sidelined with a hand injury which required surgery and now returns on January 18 against ex-UFC star Darren Till, 31.
Paul meanwhile has won five times since losing to Fury – most recently beating 58-year-old boxing icon Mike Tyson.
But initially Fury was tabled a deal to face Paul in what was Netflix’s first move into live boxing.
Paul claimed on social media that an offer of $8million (£6.3m) was turned down by Fury.
And the American’s promotional partner Nakisa Bidarian warned Fury runs the risk of pricing himself out of the rematch.
He told SunSport: “Jake has offered Tommy millions and millions of dollars, a lot more than he’s getting paid to fight Darren.
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“You could make the argument that they think the fight is worth more.
“And we’ve always said to them, if you think it’s worth more, show up with the money and let us know.
“I had a US journalist text me, I don’t know when Jake put out that tweet about having made Tommy an $8million offer that was rejected.
“And a journalist hit me up and said that’s like a step backwards for Jake – Tommy Fury has been nowhere since Jake Paul.
“And I don’t necessarily agree with that, but what I will say is, we’re certainly not going to do something that doesn’t make economical sense, right?
“So to the extent that Tommy Fury and his advisers can be realistic around what the fight is worth as far as they’re concerned, of course, Jake wants to do that fight.
“But we’re certainly not going to overpay a guy who’s been inactive, is fighting an MMA guy that has zero pay-per-view star power. Zero.
“And again, love Darren Till but he’s never sold a pay-per-view in his life. It’s not gonna be something that happens.
“So I think the message is; absolutely Jake wants to rematch Tommy Fury. If it makes business sense.
“And business sense means Tommy, you’re gonna get paid millions and millions of dollars to try and show the world that, you know, you really are better than Jake Paul.”
Fury was the first opponent of Paul’s with a recognised professional boxing record before it ended in defeat.
But he answered critics of his opposition by defeating 10-1 Andre August and 17-2 Ryan Bourland over the past year.
The controversial clash with Tyson – slammed over the age gap – then followed with over 100MILLION watching on Netflix and 72,000 in attendance.
It leaves the direction of Paul’s boxing career unclear – but Most Valuable Promotions co-founder Bidarian insists winning a world title is top of the list.
He added: “Jake’s number one priority is to be a world champion, but equally Jake and MVP like to be disruptive and do massive crossover cultural events.
“Even if you look at 2023 the Nate Diaz event from a mainstream coverage perspective was bigger than WrestleMania 39, was bigger than WrestleMania 40, was bigger than just about any event from a mainstream coverage perspective.
“I’m not saying pay-per-views because as you know, the fan base of these younger athletes likes to steal content versus to pay for content.
“But in terms of social media impressions, in terms of reach, in terms of, as I said, kind of just online interest.
“So we we’ll continue to to explore massive cross cultural opportunities while really focused on him becoming a champion.”
Reuters
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