Tommy Fury and Jake Paul has been dragged into a fresh fakery row as a debate begins on which of the boxers has the 'realest' fanbase.
Former Love Island star Tommy, 23, defeated YouTuber Jake Paul by split decision after eight rounds to settle their grudge match in Saudi Arabia on Sunday night.
The long-standing feud finally came to a conclusion at Diriyah Arena last night, after two previous scheduled meetings had to be cancelled.
Tommy, who remains determined to emulate brother Tyson by becoming a world champion, took a standing count for a knockdown in the final round – with the British fighter claiming to have slipped – but had earlier done enough to earn a split decision on the judges’ cards.
As well as claiming the newly-made WBC Diriyah Belt with victory over Jake, Tommy - who was defending an undefeated 8-0 professional record - will now earn a place in the WBC cruiserweight rankings.
Following his epic win, where he dedicated his triumph to girlfriend Molly-Mae Hague and their newborn daughter Bambi, Tommy has found himself in a fresh fakery row as his 'fake followers' are being examined.
Social media gives boxers the opportunity to connect with their fans, spread the word on upcoming fights, and share the goings-on in their lives, while they can also earn serious money through social media via product promotion and sponsored posts.
Given that Tommy appeared on Love Island back in 2019, the boxer had already amassed over a million followers following his stint in the famous villa, but after proving himself as a reality TV favourite, Tommy went on to put his 100% focus on his boxing career.
While he proves to be one of the most popular boxers at the moment, it seems Tommy loses the fakery row due to 50% of his 4,300,000 followers being fake.
Meanwhile, Jake Paul wins the fake following ‘fight’ over the Manchester-born star, with him having almost 10% fewer fake followers on his profile compared to his rival.
Betway has analyzed the Instagram profiles of the most famous boxers using Hype Auditor, which runs socials audits using AI, and revealed the top 15 accounts with the highest percentage of fake followers.
While Tommy comes in first with 50% of his followers being fake, Floyd Mayweather JR's profiled sees thats 44.90% of his are also fake, while Deontay Wilder has 43%.
However having fake or 'bot' followers, doesn't necessarily mean that that celebrity paid for the follower boost.
Fake followers are not equal to the fame of celebrities, but the majority of social media users may connect the number of their online following to their worth or popularity.
