Jake Paul has insisted his defeat by Tommy Fury had nothing to do with his rival's ability.
Paul was narrowly beaten by his British foe when the pair clashed in Saudi Arabia last weekend, losing on split-decision despite dropping Fury in the final round. Paul later revealed he had struggled with illness during his training camp - and has now doubled down on his claim.
Asked by his brother Logan why he lost, Paul said: "Lots of reasons; I was sick for four weeks out of this nine-week camp and the was travelling, jet-lagged for another week of that. That's what's p***ing me off the most, it had nothing to do with him, it had everything to do with me. He wasn't that great at all, I think Anderson was tougher than him and I figured out that puzzle. He threw a lot of punches, that was his biggest thing."
Paul did reserve some praise for his rival - and confirmed he plans to activate the rematch clause he had included in his contract "He's definitely blossomed; he's an overnight superstar and it's great for him," he added. "He's a good kid and we had a bunch of respect for each other; we spoke in the locker room and he said let's do the rematch.
"He seems very levelheaded and down to earth. We talked a lot of s*** and did a great job promoting it but there was mutual respect there and we hugged. I have respect for the guy, that's the most beautiful thing about this sport. You can be arch-enemies and then find respect for each other after beating the s*** out of each other and going to war.
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"The silver lining is that the pay-per-views are off the charts, it's probably going to be the biggest fight of the year. It's coming in at over half-a-million buys. Business is great, there are still so many names out there for me to fight. Obviously I want to do the rematch with Tommy but all those fights are massive. I've got to go get that back."
