TOMMY FURY and Jake Paul had a secret gym run-in FIVE YEARS before their Saudi Arabia dust-up.
The pair have been feuding for a number of years and have seen two fights already called off before they could do battle.
However, this Sunday there’s nowhere to hide as Paul and Fury will come to blows in Saudi Arabia.
Paul and Fury have come face-to-face on a number of occasions – but their first-ever meet came FIVE YEARS ago in British boxing legend Ricky Hatton’s gym.
At the time, Fury’s older brother, Tyson, was yet to win back the heavyweight title, and was on a collision course with Deontay Wilder for a second time at the end of the year.
Tyson, of course, went on to win the fight, clinching his second world title.
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But younger brother Tommy was yet to make his professional boxing debut and was just a year away from gracing British television on hit show Love Island.
And in late 2018, Fury actually got up close and personal with Paul and his brother Logan, who made Hatton’s gym their short-term home ahead of their August 25 boxing debuts inside the Manchester Arena against KSI and his brother Deji.
Speaking to the Mirror: “It’s a funny story.
“Jake Paul and Logan were in town for the fight with KSI and I trained at Ricky Hatton’s gym.
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“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.”
Fury got a snap alongside Paul’s brother Logan – but says his rival was “a bit of a p****” and didn’t give anyone the time of day for pictures in the gym.
Fury, 23, continued: “His brother Logan was real nice.
“He took pictures with everybody, but Jake never. Jake never took pictures with anybody.
“I feel like his brother Logan is what he is, a good businessman, a nice guy at heart.
“But Jake is genuinely a bit of a p**** to be honest.
“He didn’t give anyone in the gym that day a picture and that says it all, really.”
Rival Paul has a different recollection of events.
Paul recalled: “I guess that’s the start of when we met each other.
“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.”
Both will be paid handsomely for Sunday’s fight.
According to SportsZion, Paul is guaranteed to make at least £2.6million and then 65 per cent of PPV sales.
It is claimed it could take his earnings for the fight to over £7m including sponsorship deals.
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While Fury will take home a guaranteed purse of £1.6m, with an addition of 35 per cent of the PPV share.
With sponsorships and endorsements, Fury could earn £3.7m from the Paul fight.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
