By Sam Volz: Promoter Frank Warren points out Tommy Fury won’t be making the millions that he’s getting for his fights with Jake Paul once he returns to fighting boxers unless he steps it up against “quality opposition.”
After getting a taste of the Jake Paul money, Tommy will likely focus on trying to fight Youtubers and influencers exclusively for as long as he can get away with it.
If Tommy gets the rematch with Jake later this year, he’ll likely go after KSI or Logan Paul and try to continue making easy money. However, Tommy spoils his way to another victory by holding all night and running; he could wreck his chances of fighting other Youtubers/influencers because they’re not going to want to fight someone that is just going to hold & run all night, not giving them a chance to land punches.
The problem with Tommy (9-0, 4 KOs) suddenly veering from fighting the domestic level ham & eggers that he’s been facing his entire five-year professional career is that he would need to face someone popular enough for him to get a significant payday anywhere clear to the money he got for his fight with against Jake.
Tommy Fury will need to face quality opposition
That would likely mean that Tommy would need to face one of these contenders at cruiserweight:
- Richard Riakporhe
- Chris Billam-Smith
- Sergey Kovalev
- Mairis Briedis
- Tommy McCarthy
- Jack Massey
It’s doubtful that Tommy Fury could beat most of those fighters or even some of them at this point because his clinching, moving & countering punching style won’t be enough to beat them. You got to have more to your game than just holding and running if you want to find success at the top tier.
The top contenders/champions know how to defeat fighters that move & clinch, which are the main staples of Tommy’s game. He doesn’t have power, so he’ll be forced to clinch and move to keep from getting blasted out by those contenders.
It’s frankly surprising that Jake Paul chose to fight Tommy Fury because if he’d watched his past fights, he’d have realized that he’s one of the biggest spoilers in the UK and perhaps all of boxing. There aren’t too many well-known fighters that run & hold as much as Tommy Fury that is given a platform to be watched by fans.
Those types of fighters are generally ignored by fans and are invisible. The only reason Tommy has been noticed and given a chance to make money against Jake is because of his last name and being the brother of Tyson Fury.
Without that connection, Tommy would be nobody, fighting on undercards and not popular because of his ugly fighting style. No one wants to watch runners & clinchers, especially when they have no power like him.
Where’s Tommy Fury going to earn big money?
“Tommy is a professional fighter, but he’s a novice professional fighter, still has a long way to go,” said Frank Warren to talkSPORT Boxing about Tommy Fury. “As far as Jake is concerned, Jake showed that he’s a boxer rather than a guy who jumps in the ring and fancies to have a go at it. He seemed to have some basic skills there.
“What is more intriguing is what’s going to happen in the future for Tommy. Who is he going to fight where he’s going to earn the type of money he made last night?
“He’s not going to get that in a fight in the UK unless he really steps up against the quality of opposition. So I would think that there would be a rematch or fight another guy who’s got a high profile on the social media platform.
“I think boxing has got a lot to learn from it, especially young fighters of how important the profile that they build and have on social media. It’s a very important part now in the modern sportsman and his marketability.
“He would be looking to make a lot of money, but he won’t get nowhere near that because it’s a building process. You don’t just jump into the deep end. Let’s be honest, he won’t be ready to jump into the deep end,” said Warren when asked what kind of money Tommy Fury will make when he starts building his career against boxers.
“This social media situation has absolutely boomed as far as he’s concerned, and more importantly, what Jake Paul brought to it. Jake Paul is a worldwide star on social media, and if you look at the night before, you had Mayweather fighting in London at the O2, fighting some guy [Aaron Chalmers] from a reality show, and it was empty. The place was absolutely spark out.
“So it’s a fine line with this. It’s what the youngsters buy into. It’s a really young audience,” said Warren.