In the days leading up to Jake Paul’s fight against Tommy Fury, UFC welterweight Matt Brown gave his assessment on the matchup and the records that both fighters possessed before facing off with each other.
Paul sported a perfect 6-0 resume with notable wins over ex-UFC champions Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva but not a single fight against a professional boxer. As for Fury, he was 8-0 but his eight wins came against opposition with a combined 24-176-5 record.
Although Fury won the fight by a split decision, Brown remains steadfast in his evaluation of each record regardless of what the outcome was.
” I didn’t have the opportunity to see the fight, but I saw the end. “It wasn’t surprising,” Brown stated on the latest episode of The Fighter. The Writer . It was going to come down to a very close call, I think. I leaned towards Jake Paul.
“People were just talking mad s*** about my call cause I said Jake Paul at least he’d fought some world class athletes. Everybody’s talking mad s*** like I was wrong. That’s the truth .”
.
Despite Paul’s victory, he didn’t win by any means. However, he struggled at times with Fury’s basic boxing skills. Fury’s output along with solid footwork helped him stay out of range to avoid Paul’s power punches, which helped the 23-year-old prospect secure the victory.
Afterwards, Paul gave credit to Fury for a job well done while promising to come back better for the rematch, which was part of the contract drafted for the first fight.
Paul has maintained that he wants to be a champion boxer ever since he was a pro fighter. It doesn’t seem like those dreams have been affected by his defeat.
Brown, for his part will not say “never” when it is about anyone chasing their dreams. However, he believes that Paul has the potential to be a serious threat to any of the top boxers around the globe.
“I would never say that someone can’t do something they say they’re going to do,” Brown said. “You never really know but what he’s shooting for is something astronomically distant. It’s one of the most difficult things you could possibly ask for a human to do. His chances of reaching the NFL are about the same as being world boxing champion. He is just as unlikely to make it to the NFL .”
If Paul wants to continue fighting social influencers or MMA fighters looking for a payday, he can still make a boatload of money and likely add more wins to his record but Brown says that’s a far cry from facing and beating boxers who have dedicated their entire lives to the sport.
“People often forget the importance of ****** boxing,” Brown stated. “MMA is hard as it is. Boxing is a sport where you are only permitted to use your hands. You can only punch the head or the body. This is not an ****** easy sport. People see Jake Paul do some basic stuff against some MMA fighters and they start thinking all these things or giving Conor [McGregor] a chance against Floyd [Mayweather].
” People forget just how difficult ****** boxing can be. This is why [Dmitry] Bivol, Mayweather and Canelo [Alvarez], have been mastering the art of boxing since childhood. They’re one-in-a million. There’s so many people that have been perfecting this art since they were children and still haven’t succeeded anywhere near these guys. They’re one in a million of those one in a million.”
Brown actually commends both Paul and Fury for taking this kind of risk early in their respective careers when most boxers wouldn’t face someone at an equal skill level until much later.
For all that was made about his breakdown regarding Fury’s record, Brown knows that’s a fairly common tactic used in boxing to help build up a resume while an athlete is learning the sport.
Canelo Alvarez didn’t face an opponent with a winning record until 13 fights into his career. In his ninth fight as a professional, Tyson Fury — Tommy’s older half-brother — took on an opponent with a 4-22-5 record.
Perhaps one day Fury or Paul will develop into a world-class boxer but there’s just far too many unknowns to make that prediction about either of them.
“You don’t see this in boxing very often,” Brown explained. “You’ve seen Tommy Fury’s record, how the guys kind of get a little bit better every time but they’re still not world beaters or anything and he’s still got another 10 fights or so for that. These guys may have a lot more potential than either one of us realize. Canelo Alvarez at one point was 8-0 and we didn’t know who he was and probably would have watched him and you probably wouldn’t have thought ‘oh he’s going to be a world champion’ by watching him. Boxing is a way of life.
“They don’t even make names until 15 or 20 fights in. I don’t take anything away either of those guys and both of them, without watching the fight, they may have the potential to go on and do big things. We have no idea really at this point in their careers. That’s why boxers box so much so we do know this.”
New episodes of The Fighter vs. The Writer with Matt Brown and Damon Martin drop every Tuesday with audio only versions of the podcast found on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio and Stitcher
Source: https://www.mmafighting.com/2023/2/28/23618181/matt-brown-on-jake-paul-aftermath-of-loss-to-tommy-fury-people-just-forget-how-f-difficult-boxing-is?rand=96749
