Jake Paul can only hope the third time’s the charm.
BoxingScene.com has confirmed that a deal has been reached for Paul to face rival Tommy Fury on February 25 at a site to be announced in Saudi Arabia. Combat sports reporter Ariel Helwani was the first to report Tuesday that the social media star and the half-brother of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury came to terms again.
This marks the third time that their eight-round cruiserweight fight has been scheduled.
This time, however, BT Sports Box Office will be the primary distributor of the pay-per-view show that’ll feature Paul (6-0, 4 KOs), of Westlake, Ohio, and Fury (8-0, 4 KOs), of Manchester, England. The U.S. distributor of the card headline by Paul-Fury hasn’t been determined.
Showtime was the primary pay-per-view distributor for Paul-Fury the first two times it was scheduled.
Former UFC welterweight champ Tyron Woodley replaced Fury as Paul’s opponent the first time because Fury reportedly suffered from a chest infection and a rib injury while training. Paul brutally knocked out Woodley in the sixth round of what was an immediate rematch in December 2021 at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida.
Paul-Fury was rescheduled for last August 6 at Madison Square Garden in New York, yet Fury withdrew again due to a visa issue that prohibited him from traveling to the United States. Hasim Rahman Jr. replaced Fury on relatively short notice, but the show was scrapped altogether because Rahman (12-2, 6 KOs), a career-long heavyweight, couldn’t make the contracted weight limit of 200 pounds to oppose Paul.
The polarizing Paul, 26, eventually fought another UFC legend, Anderson Silva. Paul beat Brazil’s Silva by unanimous decision in an eight-rounder that headlined a Showtime Pay-Per-View event October 29 from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
The 23-year-old Fury most recently competed in an exhibition against 11th-hour replacement Rolly Lambert on the Floyd Mayweather-Deji pay-per-view undercard November 13 at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. Lambert (15-1-1, 12 KOs), a more experienced cruiserweight from Cameroon, replaced Fury’s original opponent, Paul Bamba, on extremely short notice because Fury weighed six-plus pounds more than what Bamba believed was their contracted weight limit.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.