For a 10-0 fighter, Tommy Fury has managed to land himself some of the biggest paydays the sport of boxing can offer.
First buoyed by his relation to the WBC Heavyweight Champion and a stint on UK reality TV series Love Island, the 24-year-old made himself one of the faces of the crossover boxing scene by handing Jake Paul his first defeat.
Fury would go on to beat Paul’s English counterpart KSI in similar fashion eight months later.
Despite holding ambitions to become a legitimate world champion, the Manchester-born fighter can’t seem to escape offers for some huge spectacle events.
The latest is reportedly with Roy Jones Jr, the record-breaking four-weight world champion who is now 54-years-old but remains close to the sport.
Speaking to Casino Alpha, Jones said an initial conversation in Saudi Arabia has turned to real talks.
“Me and Tommy Fury is a great idea. John Fury initially said he wanted to fight Mike Tyson, so I said If you’re all going to do that, let’s go and make an all-out card – if John fights Mike, I’ll fight Tommy on the undercard or as the co-main, that would be awesome right? Tommy Fury said ‘alright, let’s fight for real’ so I said ‘whoa okay, that might work, but I need to get these knees right first’.”
The Hall of Fame fighter was clear in his motivation.
“That’s going to take me a little bit of time, not a lot of time, six to eight weeks – but we’re in talks, it’s being negotiated, it’s a really interesting fight because Tommy is inexperienced and that’s balanced out but my age and experience; I’m a 55 year old guy who can actually fight for real and I’d be fighting a guy who’s not really that experienced, but who is built right and who can get the job done, it’s an even fight. If the money is right it will be good, but if it’s not a crazy, astronomical amount of money, why would I do it?”
He says the fight is ‘75%’ likely to happen, and could even land in the UK.
“I haven’t heard anymore about John Fury and Mike Tyson, but Tommy Fury said ‘hey, we can still do our thing and do our own exhibition’. And I said ‘that’s not a bad idea but the money will have to be right’. But guess what? In Saudi Arabia right now it will probably be right. Saudi Arabia at the moment will probably pay what I’m looking for to make an exhibition happen. Dealing with the Saudis I’ll say that I’m 75% sure this exhibition happens against Tommy Fury.
“And if the money is not right in Saudi Arabia then maybe me and Tommy could do an exhibition in the UK, that would be the first time that I ever had the chance to perform in the UK. Would I really say no to that?”
Jones was last out professionally in a majority loss to MMA fighter Anthony Pettis earlier this year. He dipped his toe in the exhibition waters with a bout against Mike Tyson in 2020.