Harley Benn, son of former world champion Nigel, has claimed Tommy Fury has twice turned down fights with him at the last minute, despite being considerably bigger.
The pair, Benn claims, were in talks for a fight in the co-main event of Floyd Mayweather's upcoming exhibition bout with YouTube star Deji in Dubai on November 13. However, the bout couldn't make it through, despite the 25-year-old's willingness to come up to 175lb, over nine pounds higher than his heaviest career weight and 17lb more than his lowest.
Benn is a 9-1 prospect, returning to the ring this year after a three-year absence and generally campaigning around 150-155lb. He has fought as light as 148lb in his career, while Fury is an 8-0 light-heavyweight who hasn't even made the 175lb limit in his professional career.
But Fury had minimal interest, and Benn is instead due to face a fighter he claims to be an "undefeated prospect" on the undercard of the event. Global Titans Fight Series, the promotion putting on the star-studded event, are still eager to find Fury a fight and talks are said to be underway with Tyron Woodley, although Mirror Fighting sources indicate they aren't going well.
"Hope you're all having a nice Sunday evening," Benn wrote in an Instagram story to his 13,400+ followers. "Just a quick message to say Tommy Fury, you are a confirmed wasteman. That's the second time I've accepted putting on a stone-and-a-half to fight you (me going up to light-heavyweight) and the second time you've changed your mind and got scared. But we move, a good undefeated prospect confirmed for Dubai November 13."
Fury hasn't fought since his decision win over Daniel Bocianski on the undercard of his brother Tyson' world heavyweight title defence against Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium back in April. He utterly dominated the mismatched Pole and dropped him, but similarly to his bout a year prior with MMA fighter Anthony Taylor, he was unable to land the finish.
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The 23-year-old has signed to fight Jake Paul twice, but both were pulled due to issues on his end. First, he had agreed to face Paul in Florida on December 18 of last year before pulling out with a broken rib, at which point he was replaced by Woodley who had already faced the YouTube the previous August and was subsequently knocked out.
Then they signed to fight at Madison Square Garden on August 6 of this year in a huge pay-per-view showdown. But he was turned away from entering America for the pre-fight press conference and the bout was scrapped with Hasim Rahman Jr stepping in, although that too was cancelled due to weight cutting issues.
Now, Fury appears to be in the late stages of talks to appear on Mayweather's undercard in Dubai, where he is allowed to travel, however, it is believed Woodley being his opponent is far from a done deal. It is unknown when the first bout with Benn was floated and for which event.
