No amount of taunting can convince Jake Paul to put off a rematch with Tommy Fury for a showdown with rival KSI.
“It’s Tommy Fury, and then this gets back on the schedule,” Paul said on his older brother Logan Paul’s video podcast Impaulsive.
Fellow influencer turned pugilist KSI reveled in Paul’s split-decision loss to Fury, releasing a video that quickly went viral. Paul said he hadn’t seen the clip but dismissed it anyway.
“Again, talk is cheap, because with all that talk of whatever he said, he’s still afraid to sign the contract,” said Jake Paul. “He could talk all that s***, but like, let’s let’s go in the ring – 100 percent, like talk that s***. Let’s sell some pay-per-views, brother. So it’s just the ball’s in his court.”
Paul and KSI have sparred in the media for several years about a potential boxing match. KSI outpointed Logan Paul in a 2019 following their 2018 draw that helped spark a trend in influencer boxing. KSI has said he’ll leave boxing after beating the younger Paul.
Asked whether he would take on KSI before Fury, Jake Paul responded, “No, no. KSI has never fought anyone good.”
“Oh no!” Logan Paul laughed. “Oh f***. That really hurts, Jake.”
“But I am right, because when you fought him, you weren’t good,” the younger Paul insisted, no doubt referring to his brother going the distance with retired great Floyd Mayweather. “You’re good now.”
“Like I talk a lot of s***, but I, back to back to back, schedule these fights and go in the ring and do them – whoever it is anywhere, anytime, anyplace, I’ve backed that up and proven and shown it,” Jake Paul continued. “So [KSI is] hot on Twitter. He’s got the Twitter fingers, but when it comes actually fighting me, you have been gone, absent. Haven’t actually showed up, haven’t actually signed the contract.
“So talk is cheap, and let’s just hope he gets into the ring and we can settle all the s*** talk there after I go back and avenge this loss with Tommy Fury.”
Fury defeated Paul on two of three judges’ scorecards, leveling up from earlier performances against middling competition. The half-brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury was reportedly bound to a rematch with Jake Paul in the event of a win, but the younger Paul did not play up his contractual ties to his one-time opponent.
Paul hopes dollar signs ultimately convince Tommy Fury to take the immediate rematch.
“Overnight superstar, made the kid a millionaire, and I don’t see why there’s not a reason to run it back at some point,” he said. “The business side of it was massive. It was one of the biggest events in boxing in recent years. It’ll probably be the biggest fight of this year.
“I think he has to like prove himself, because from his standpoint … he came up to me afterward when we were in the medical office, and he’s like, ‘Bro, you did great. I’ve been doing this since I was six,’ and when I think about it, I’m like [thinking to myself], ‘Damn, like, what have you been doing for all those years? Because you’re not that good. I’ve been doing this for three years.’”
Paul contends he had an off night, having suffered through multiple illnesses, a tough weight cut and a hand injury in what he said was a shortened camp.
“I beat him, I believe, like, eight to nine times out of 10,” Paul said. “And this just happened to be one of those times.”
Paul nonetheless said the experience of losing was a humbling experience. In a rematch, he said he would bring that to the table.
“It’s part of the game, for sure,” he said. “I definitely looked like a f****** idiot. I think it’s just hilarious, too. … Now, it’s me. Definitely, the s*** talk is turned down a notch, for sure, if there is a rematch. It’s more actions. I don’t know if it’s the s*** talk, but less disrespect.”