Around a month remains until Jake Paul and Tommy Fury are scheduled to meet in the ring at Madison Square Garden and we still don’t know for sure if the fight will proceed as expected.
It emerged last week that Fury, half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson, was refused entry to the United States for a scheduled press conference to promote the fight, prompting concerns that the fight was in jeopardy of falling apart. Paul has subsequently given Fury until Wednesday to confirm he can enter the the country or he says he will switch to a new opponent — with three potential replacements thought to be lined up.
However Frank Warren, who promotes Fury, says that his fighter has yet to visit the U.S. Embassy in his home country in a bid to iron out the situation.
“He has got to get to the Embassy, but no appointment has been made yet. I can understand where they’re coming from,” Warren said to iFL TV.
“They’ve got a show to run or whatever and if we can’t get it sorted out then obviously they’ll go to another opponent so we’ll just keep working on it and trying to make it happen.”
Late last year Fury was forced to withdraw from their first scheduled fight after he injured a rib in training and was replaced by former UFC champion Tyson Woodley, whom Paul knocked out in the sixth round of what was their second fight.
And judging by Paul’s recent comments, the fight is again in serious danger unless he sees some activity from Fury and his team in securing passage to the United States.
“Tommy is officially out by Wednesday morning if he doesn’t go to the embassy / come out of hiding,” he tweeted. “3 other opponents lined up. I’m built different.”