Jake Paul's returning head coach Shane Mosley has told the YouTube star that he feels he should not have gone ahead with his February fight with Tommy Fury.
Back in his days as a debuting professional who had just one white collar bout, Paul brought in the former world champion to train him for his bout with fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib. But the pair never worked together again, with ex-cruiserweight title contender BJ Flores instead stepping up to take the reins.
Flores and Paul worked together for the rest of his professional career before the Fury fight, which he lost by split decision in Saudi Arabia to take a considerable hit in his career. And the social media sensation has switched up the entirety of his backroom in an effort to make his return against Nate Diaz a successful one.
"Jake probably should not have been fighting that night," Mosley told Sporting Post. "He wasn't prepared mentally or physically. It would have been up to him - I've taken fights I should not have taken - but had I been involved I would have suggested postponing the Fury fight by two or three weeks to let him heal a little bit. Give him another fight with Tommy and I'm sure will do very well.”
Paul was reportedly sick going into the bout, with Mosley also saying: “I think he was sick and under the weather and he went ahead and fought anyway. There was also some mental stuff that was going on with him. It would be very difficult for anyone to go in there and fight considering what was going on for him personally. These are not excuses, just facts."
Mosley explained that Flores was told he has taken Paul "as far as he can go", and he was drafted back into his old charge's camp. He's expected to stick around after the Diaz fight and believes that he will be able to get Paul to the point where he can defeat Fury in a rematch, and eventually challenge for legitimate world honours.
"I helped start him off," Mosley explained. "Then I left him with BJ Flores and now something has happened between Jake and BJ - I think Jake said something like BJ has taken him as far as he could and has let him go. Anyway, I saw the Tommy Fury fight and I texted him and said we need to work on some stuff. Sometimes you miss certain stages in your boxing career.
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“He learned very quickly and went straight into sparring with experienced guys. But I think he missed the middle part of his development. So that's what we're working on. I'm coming to help. I'm not the head trainer but the legendary trainer, who knows different things because I've been in there and seen it and done it.
“Tommy was throwing a lot of unusual punches and Jake wasn't ready for that amateur type of style Tommy had. Yes, Tommy dictated the range, but it was more so Jake did not know how to get to him, like cutting off the ring. There are different types of movement he could have done to draw him and to counter that he has not used yet, so we'll teach him different things.
"When he fights this type of fight again, that mistake won't happen again, where he gets stuck and does not know what to do. I want him to know everything so he knows what to do. He will avenge that defeat to Fury. He's only lacking in experience right now, that's all. He would win if he rematched him next. He's in good hands. With me and the whole team. I believe he's going to improve very fast.”
