Tommy Fury told the U.K.’s TalkSport that he will retire if he loses to Jake Paul.
The two young entertainers-turned-professional boxers are scheduled to meet in an eight-round cruiserweight pay-per-view bout on Feb. 26 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.
“Yes, 100%m yeah, definitely,” Fury said when he was asked whether he’d call it quits if he didn’t have his hand raised. “If I can’t beat Jake Paul, I don’t belong in the ring.”
Neither them has tasted defeat, although they have faced carefully chosen opponents.
Fury, the half brother of heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, is 8-0 (4 KOs). The native of Manchester, England, last took part in a sanctioned bout in April of last year, when he outpointed someone named Daniel Bocianski in London.
Paul (6-0, 4 KOs) is coming off a unanimous decision victory over former MMA star Anderson Silva in October. However, he made his biggest statement by stopping Tyron Woodley, another MMA fighter, with a single right hand in their 2021 rematch.
Fury was asked what might happen if Paul catches him with a big punch.
“If he caught me, I’d probably just laugh to be honest,” he said, “because I’ve been used to being hit by heavyweights and Olympic gold medalists, world champions and whatever, so Jake Paul – a little kid from Disney – what’s he going to do?
“I’ll let him hit me, I’m not interested. I’ll put my hands up and let him tee off at me like a 5-year-old is hitting me.”
Fury believes Paul’s bark is worse than his bite.
“This man has talked himself into a good fight, when you hear the saying, ‘Oh, he talks a good game,’ this man does talk a good game,” he said. “Whereas me, I can fight a good game.
“I’m not as good as a talker as he is, I give him that, but I’m levels and levels and levels above him in fighting, and he’s going to find out the hard way.”
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