Ryan Garcia praised Jake Paul in the wake of his defeat to Tommy Fury.
The American, who has caused controversy via a brash entrance into the sport of boxing, lost via split decision to the younger brother of the heavyweight champion of the world, Fury, in Saudi Arabia.
Despite going the full eight-round distance and scoring a flash knockdown in the last, the general consensus is that Paul’s fundamentals were levels beneath Fury’s.
Defeat is a bitter pill to swallow for a man who spoke so much in the lead-up, but Garcia believes he has nothing to be ashamed of. In a since-deleted tweet, he claimed that Paul’s financial gain from the sport meant he ‘couldn’t lose.’
“Jake couldn’t lose! You don’t just come into boxing, basically make $40M+ in your first seven fights and consider that as losing.
Further, he was competitive against Tommy, so I’m going to tip my hat off to him and say congratulations and good luck in whatever you do next.”
Despite wishing him luck in future endeavours, it doesn’t look like Paul is leaving the sport that easy.
He’s expected to officially active his rematch clause with Fury in the coming weeks, with a timeline announced for the rematch.
Despite it being crucial for Paul to win this time, lest his short professional boxing career be damaged beyond repair, the hype and intrigue is likely to pale in comparison to the first contest.
As for the undefeated Garcia, that’s a different story. He has perhaps one of the most exciting and marketable fights in the sport coming up against Gervonta Davis, with the pair facing off in Las Vegas on April 22.