Legendary boxing coach and analyst Teddy Atlas thinks [autotag]Jake Paul[/autotag] will beat [autotag]Tommy Fury[/autotag].
Paul (6-0) meets Fury (8-0) in a 185-pound, eight-round boxing match Feb. 26. The event takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and airs on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
Fury, an undefeated boxer and half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, marks Paul’s first opponent who actually has boxing experience, but Atlas questions the former reality star’s killer instinct.
“Fury, he’s a guy who’s obviously been fighting longer. He comes from the Fury family. He’s obviously had more experience. He’s been around boxing most of his life,” Atlas said on his podcast “THE FIGHT with Teddy Atlas.” “He knows how to look like a fighter. I don’t know if he knows how to fight like a fighter.”
He continued, “Jake Paul is learning how to behave like a fighter. I don’t know that Tommy Fury completely knows that yet. I’m gonna put it in context. Tommy Fury is 8-0, and he’s got four knockouts. The combined records of all of his eight opponents is 24 wins, 176 losses, and five draws.”
Atlas agreed with Paul’s snipe at Fury’s past opposition and even went a little further.
“He (Paul) says to Tommy Fury, ‘You’ve fought nothing but taxi drivers,'” Atlas continued. “I would add something to that: They’re very bad taxi drivers. They don’t even have a license.”
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Fury wasn’t able to finish his past three opponents, which Atlas critiqued considering their records. Paul, on the other hand, has finished four of his six opponents – and was able to knock down Anderson Silva late in a decision win.
While Paul’s opposition isn’t exactly credentialed in the boxing world, Atlas thinks Paul was very tactical when targeting Fury as his next opponent.
“He’s not a puncher,” Atlas said of Fury. “He’s not physical. He’s not physically strong. He’s not a banger at all. … Jake Paul is physically strong. Fury’s not physically strong. I think that’s why he picked him. He’s not stupid. I think he thinks he can use his physicality, and I think he thinks he’s mentally tougher. And he might be right. Right now, with the little bit I have to work on, I would say maybe he is, that he’s more determined, he’s a little tougher mentally. So I’m gonna go with what I’ve seen, what I know so far.
“So, I don’t care what people think. I’m gonna pick Jake Paul.”
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