Jake Paul has issued a one-word response to Tommy Fury pulling out of his bout with ex-UFC fighter Darren Till.
The pair were scheduled to meet at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester on January 18, but Fury has dropped out after Till claimed he would kick him in the head.
Fury’s last fight was a unanimous decision win against YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI in October last year but he is unwilling to enter the ring with a man he deems a maverick.
He wrote on Instagram: ‘For the one simple reason being that Darren has stated over and over that he does not want to abide by professional boxing rules and that if he is loosing the fight he will resort to kicking and other stupid MMA tactics.
‘I am a professional boxer, I have been out of the ring for over a year and I wanted this to be a great BOXING fight for the fans. I have wasted weeks in training camp. We are working hard to get a new opponent and date. I promise to get a better opponent and better fight for you guys. Good news around the corner.’
And Paul, who suffered his only first career loss to Fury via split decision in March 2023, had a gleeful reaction to the news: ‘hahahaha’.
More to follow.
The outspoken Till was quick to respond to Fury – the younger brother of former heavyweight world champion Tyson – labelling him and father John ‘s**thouses’ and insisting that he didn’t need to ‘throw kicks’ to win the contest.
‘I was selling the fight to make me and you more money you absolute empty head fighting family my a** you and ur dad s**thouses,’ Till wrote on X. ‘I don’t need to throw kicks you was getting knocked spark out you divvy we was making bank on this fight cos of me not you.
‘I was building it you should be fighting and should be thanking me. Over and out… no one wants to fight me… Jake Paul what are you up to you big fat dummy?’
During a heated pre-fight press conference last month, Fury had taunted Till by saying: ‘Listen Darren you’ve got to walk into the firing line mate.’
Till replied: ‘Well at the end of the day if I can’t beat you, I’ll just kick you in the face in there, how about that?’
‘Well that’s not going to happen is it Darren,’ Fury replied. ‘Because we ain’t in the cage now, we’re in the boxing ring and you’re going to find out that boxing is very different to MMA.’
This didn’t dissuade Till, who continued to threaten his opponent as he said: ‘Well it obviously is, how are you going to stop me?
‘If I’m losing the fight, I’m going to kick you straight in the face. You won’t know what’s hit you.’ Fury then said: ‘Well if you kick me straight in the face, then it’ll be a proper fight isn’t it.’
