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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Josh Challies

Tommy Fury must get real about Jake Paul to clinch Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte undercard slot

Tommy Fury has once again pushed to try and get his bout with Jake Paul rescheduled but, yet again, his proposals are falling on deaf ears.

The American has refused to entertain the prospect of a reschedule following the pair's cancelled bout in December, when Fury withdrew due to injury.

Paul has always questioned the legitimacy of Fury's injury, despite being presented with x-rays of the broken rib, and has made it clear he isn't interested in facing off against the Manchester fighter.

His stance has fallen on deaf ears though, with Fury again making a push for the bout - while confirming his intention to fight on the undercard of Tyson Fury's April 23rd title defence against Dillian Whyte.

An appearance for Paul on that card is next to impossible given the fact that the Youtuber-turned-boxer's following makes him a main event fighter, plus the fact he's currently preoccupied with promoting the unification bout between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano - which takes place in New York the week after Fury vs Whyte.

For Fury, it makes the situation pretty clear - forget about any feud with Paul and instead focus on developing your career.

Fury is, let's not forget, just seven fights into his professional career and the opponents he has faced have a combined 14 wins to their name - 10 of which come from Jevgenijs Andrejevs, who has 113 defeats on his record.

Clearly then, for all the criticism directed to Paul about not facing a proper fighter, similar criticism should be directed to Fury who is yet to face a significant test and is trying to push for bouts that are likely beyond a fighter of his experience.

At this stage of his career, Fury should be one of the earlier fights on the undercard but his family name and his celebrity status have pushed him higher - although not quite at the level where other fighters around him would necessarily be interested in a fight.

A late-undercard appearance is usually reserved for title hopefuls or indeed title fights themselves, not the next step for a fighter with less than 10 professional bouts - so the aim for Fury in 2022 should be to get his head down and pick up as much experience as possible.

To get to the true level where Fury's fame has put him, he needs to be in a position where he's starting to be ranked on the light-heavy stage - and that's not something that will happen if you're against the likes of Anthony Taylor or Paul.

He has made it clear he wants to be known as a boxer, not for his social media fame, and this needs to be the year where he proves it.

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