Jake Paul and Tommy Fury had the biggest crossover fight in recent memory, and the feud started with a meeting at Ricky Hatton’s gym.
Years before they met in a Riyadh ring, Paul and Fury had a run-in at the Hatton gym in Manchester that was surprisingly friendly. Jake and his brother Logan Paul were in the UK for a double-header of white collar boxing matches against KSI and his younger sibling Deji.
There, they were welcomed into the famed world champion’s facility, where they completed their training camps and weight cuts. The pair even held a media day there, where the younger Paul was dragged away from his rival.
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Jake Paul met ‘fan boy’ Tommy Fury at Ricky Hatton’s gym
In his own words, Tommy Fury claims that he simply arrived to Ricky Hatton’s gym one day for training when he met Logan and Jake Paul. Tommy’s brother Tyson Fury was in the midst of launching a comeback to the ring, and was trained by the iconic former champion at the facility.
“It’s a funny story,” The younger Fury told the Daily Mirror in 2023. “Jake and Logan were in town for the fight with KSI and I trained at Ricky Hatton’s gym.
“I was training with all the proper boxers and what-not, just a normal training day and they were in the gym. I saw them in the gym and I wasn’t really fond of them at the time, I didn’t know who they were but I knew about the KSI stuff.”
A photo emerged later showing Tommy and Logan posing together after the American had been training. Jake insists that he also posed for a picture, although that has never surfaced and Fury denies that it happened.
“I guess that’s the start of when we met each other,” Paul said in the same Mirror feature. “He did take a picture with me, he was a fan of Logan and I. What’s really funny about that story is that he posted the picture with Logan and then a year later deleted it but it was still somewhere on the internet.
“He didn’t post the one with me, but the picture is there and I had someone in secrecy try to get it, going undercover to try and get the person who had the picture to send it, but they wouldn’t do it.
“Tommy’s a fan, that’s what’s crazy about this whole entire thing. We get so wrapped up in the beef but he asked me for a picture and he asked Logan for a picture in Ricky Hatton’s gym before the Deji fight.”
Jake Paul ended up making $30million to fight Tommy Fury years later
Ultimately, the pair did end up fighting five years later, after Paul had established himself as one of the most divisive names in boxing. Fury won a split decision in Saudi Arabia after being put to the canvas in the final round.
Early on in the fight it became clear that Fury was the better technical boxer, landing jabs on Paul’s chin at will and banking a number of rounds before both men had points deducted. The first four rounds clearly went the way of ‘TNT’ , leaving the American a lot to do in the second half of the fight.
Despite that knockdown, Fury ended up picking up a massive win as over 800,000 watched on pay-per-view. In a post-fight video, Paul claimed to have made $30million for the bout, which was his only time fighting in the Middle East.