John Fury, father of light heavyweight prospect Tommy Fury, has issued a stern warning that he will force his son to retire if he's unable to defeat YouTube star turned boxer Jake Paul (6-0, 4 KOs).
The two rivals are in talks to collide in the early months of 2023.
They were previously scheduled to fight on two occasions.
Last year, Fury (8-0, 4 KOs) withdrew from the fight with a rib injury suffered in training camp. And back in August, Fury was pulled from the fight after being denied entry to the United States.
There is now some discussion of staging Paul vs. Fury in the UK or the Middle East.
John Fury believes his son, the younger brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, will knock Paul out.
"Let me tell you this much: If Tommy can't knock Jake Paul out I'll retire Tommy from the sport of boxing straight afterwards, I'll have no more to do with it," John Fury told Fairbettingsites.
"I'll say ‘look, you’re going nowhere' because I don’t rate Jake Paul at all. I think Jake Paul would struggle with me. If I had a seven-week camp now and got the proper sparring and got my weight down, Jake Paul would struggle with me.
"If Tommy could not knock him into next week - and I mean do a number on him - he has no right looking at conventional boxing at all because Jake Paul would not win a proper amateur fight. He would not beat a decent-class amateur. Boxing a man 50 years old that needs a zimmer frame to get in the ring, come on. Tommy’s a livewire, the fight will be made at 13 stone 3-4 lbs, Tommy’s ideal weight and Tommy can punch as hard as a heavyweight.
"But can we actually get Jake Paul in the ring? We’re going to find out very shortly because we’ve said ‘ok, yeah we’ll take it, whatever you’re offering, let’s get it on’. He needs to be sorted out, but I don’t think he will because I saw him that day over in Dubai and saw fear in his eyes. He’s not a fighting man. I got within feet of him, looked into his eyes - he ain’t going to want no part of Tommy."
