Jake Paul is not taking any chances ahead of his boxing match with Tommy Fury next month.
The pair, who have been booked opposite each other twice previously, are expected to finally face off on Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 26, 2023. Just in case the fight falls through for a third time, however, Paul has tapped UFC alum Mike Perry as a back-up.
“A part of me definitely still doubts. And it’s scary and it’s annoying, and him not showing up to the face-to-face we were just supposed to do right now, it sucks, and the kid’s not necessarily reliable,” Paul said in regards to Tommy Fury repeatedly pulling out, not to mention no-showing a face-off, at Saturday’s press conference promoting the event. “But the money’s good for him, so it would just be so dumb [for him to pull out of the fight].”
“We have Mike Perry on standby,” Paul later added. “Let’s go, Mike Perry! He’s ready to jump in in case Tommy pulls out.”
Paul has made a career out of boxing retired mixed martial artists and fellow Youtube creators thus far in his combat sports endeavour. Fury, younger brother of heavyweight champ Tyson Fury, represents his first match-up with an actual boxer, an undefeated one at that.
Fury’s resume, mind you, sports a number of opponents with questionable records. The boxer’s first five opponents had a combined record of 12-174-5 at the time he competed against them. Genadij Krajevskij, who Fury fought in his fourth professional bout in 2020, went on amass an 0-46 record, going a total of 184 rounds in that span. He already has three fights booked for 2023.
In other words, Paul likely fought better competition in the form of Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva than Fury has faced thus far in his professional career.
As for Mike Perry, since exiting the UFC, he’s picked up a pair of wins in bare-knuckle boxing under the BKFC banner, while also scoring a win in Triad Combat. Notably, he got the better of Michael “Venom” Page in BKFC later year, with Page on loan from Bellator MMA.
