Jake Paul and Tommy Fury were scheduled to attend a special kick-off press conference to help promote their upcoming ‘The Truth’ pay-per-view (PPV) boxing event, scheduled for Sunday February 26, 2023 in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, but the Former ‘Love Island’ reality show contestant did not appear, leaving ‘The Problem Child’ high and dry.
So what happened?
“He apologizes for not being here in person, he is dealing with a private and personal matter at the moment,” promoter George Warren said during the one-sided presser. “Make no mistake, he will be there in due time to publicize and promote the event. We plan to have him come around 10 days before the event.
Turns out his absence wasn’t private or personal – he just didn’t want to go.
“I can clear that up in two seconds,” Fury told MMA Fighting. “Basically, Jake Paul signed up for the professional boxing world and I’m a professional athlete, a professional boxer. I’ve always been and [ask] any pro boxer and they’ll tell you – no one breaks camp, mid to late [of training camp] fly to Saudi Arabia, have a 10 minute press conference, fly back to Manchester, finish my camp and then fly back to Saudi Arabia the following week. Now why the press conference couldn’t wait until a week later in fight week is beyond me. Most big fights, they schedule press conferences the week of the fight. I don’t know what’s going on there.
In fact, most big fights (like this one, for example) have a kick-off press conference after the fight is made official, followed by a final press conference during fight week. Even Fury accepted an early presser when he was first booked to face Paul at the end of 2021, but then failed to show the event and accused travel agents of intervening.
Additionally, Paul vs. Fury was announced on January 27, about a month before their actual fight, which left the promoters with little time to muster the usual press pledges. It’s unclear if the short window influenced Fury’s decision, but the fight is on pay-per-view (PPV) and will need all the help it can get.
Especially after this report.
“I don’t know if he’s trying to play mind games or anything, but that’s definitely not how it works,” Fury continued. “A man is flying all over the world, trying to get into the glitz and glamour, press conferences, etc., and a man is training in the gym to annihilate that man. So I think the proof is in the pudding. You can see who the pro athlete is. I’m not interested in press conferences. I’m interested in finishing my camp, which was the best camp of my career and I’m ready to knock out this man and to get him out of the sport.
Is it too much to hope for a double KO?
#Boxing #martyr #Tommy #Fury #reveals #private #personal #matter #pressing #Jake #Paul
