As insufferable as he can be at times, it will be hard to find many people in the sport who don’t grudgingly give in Jack Paul has been good for boxing.
Anthony Joshua, Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez, Eddie Hearn and Tyson anger have conceded as much in the past two years. The disney Channel star turned knockout artist still has big questions to answer about his ability to go face-to-face with real professionals, with only one of his six opponents to date having real boxing experience in the form of UFC legend Anderson Silva, who himself has only five fights to his name. But it’s been so good so far.
Paul vs Tommy Fury has been billed by many as the YouTuber vs the Real Boxing Man and while the latter certainly comes out on top, it does Paul a disservice and perhaps pushes the boundaries of what the younger Fury brother has achieved so far .
Rising talents fighting opponents and losing records is nothing new and is very much the nature of the beast in boxing. The best in the game were subjected to similar tests early in their careers. Even the great Floyd Mayweather Jr took on his ninth professional fight against an opponent who had won only one of his previous 15 bouts.
As Metro.co.uk columnist Frazer Clarke wrote this weekevery young fighter with a raised profile will now scrutinize and dissect their early outings to a much greater degree, fighting on big cards in front of thousands of fans with countless more judgments on social media.
After just 12 amateur fights, Fury made his professional debut in December 2018 against Yevgenijs Andrejevs, who at the time was a veteran of 115 fights, losing 102 of them. A second fight against Callum Ide, who by that point had lost 26 of his 28 professional bouts while drawing the other two, followed before Fury retired at Love Island.
After emerging with a new legion of fans, the trend of opponents with questionable records continued, with Fury not fighting anyone with a winning record until fight No. 6, where he defeated Jordan Grant, who fought in what was only his third professional match was, on points. decision.
Despite all the jokes that Paul isn’t going up against “real boxers,” Fury’s next test in August 2021 was against Anthony Taylor, an MMA fighter turned boxer also firmly embedded in the world of influencers, beating the American with another comfortable points gain.
Fury’s most recent professional fight, on the Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte undercard at Wembley last April, was his first test against an opponent with a somewhat stellar record. Daniel Bocianski had lost just one of his previous 11 fights, all contested in his home country of Poland before being knocked down and dominated by Fury in the capital.
It was a step up and a bigger challenge that he took on, but one that perhaps should have come sooner. Heading into his showdown with Paul, his record stands at a healthy 8-0, with four wins coming via knockout.
But the combined record of his opponents before stepping into the ring with him makes for a grim reading – 175 defeats, 24 wins and three draws. Three of those had not and still have not won a professional boxing match.
Of Paul’s six wins, the first two can effectively be struck off the record. Knockout victories over fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and former NBA point guard Nate Robinson did nothing to dispel the suggestion that this was not a serious fighting game venture and hold less value than Fury’s wins over seasoned journeyman, regardless of their losing records.
No. 3 win over the retired Ben Askren, a former Bellator welterweight champion and veteran wrestler but never a famous striker, was a step up, but hardly a big one.
A points win followed by a sixth-round knockout of former UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley followed as Paul’s reputation grew and it was the victory over another former champion last October that served as his most significant moment.
At the age of 47, Anderson Silva’s best days were certainly behind him, having left MMA with three defeats on the line to revive a boxing career after previously fighting in 1998 and 2005.
But a victory over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. the year before meeting Paul proved his threat in the boxing ring, even when facing an unfit and unmotivated opponent.
Paul’s improvement was there to be seen and even if the opponents were carefully selected at the wrong stages of their career, they were gambling.
Fury has yet to take one of his own and while his boxing pedigree has been instilled from a young age by his fighting family, it’s his rival who has taken the furthest steps yet.
Outside the ring, the American’s promotional efforts behind last year’s historic showdown between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano in New York have seen his impact grow in the sport as a whole and like it or not he’s a presence which cannot be ignored.
Fury may be the more naturally skilled boxer who has devoted half his life to the craft, but there’s plenty of work to be done.
The next steps will decide which man really takes his ambitions in the sport seriously – a victory for Paul will earn him a place in the WBC cruiserweight rankings, while Fury may try to break into the light-heavyweight scene nationally.
Both men have everything to prove in boxing no matter how Sunday night unfolds, but it could show us who is ready to really start the journey.
MORE : I think Jake Paul beats Tommy Fury, but Carl Froch will have fun teaching him a lesson
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