The first press conference to promote KSI’s fight against Tommy Fury in October descended into chaos on Tuesday, when Tommy’s father John Fury fumed at the “antics” on-stage and flipped a number of tables in anger – but one UFC fighter believes Fury should now “follow it up” and “smack someone”.
The comments from Darren Till, a British mixed martial artist with an 18-5 win/loss record, come as the “absolute horse s***” event also saw Dillon Danis walk on wearing a Toy Story alien hat (in reference to Logan Paul’s infamous 2017 ‘suicide forest’ video) and Paul bring out a birthday cake for his rival depicting a bloodied Danis on the canvas.
Till told gambling website SafeBettingSites: “The press conference was everything we expected: cringeworthy and embarrassing.
“I thought Tommy and Dillon came across better than I expected. John’s John isn’t he? He likes to make a kerfuffle and do nothing about it, so what can you say?
“It’s big John Fury! We all have to love him.”
The UFC middleweight, who has been filmed sparring with Tyson Fury in the past, added: “Obviously I'm mates with Tyson and the Fury family and they’re a good bunch but how many outbursts can you have without actually doing something?
“Now it’s time for him to follow it up and have an outburst and then smack someone!”
In further surprising remarks from the fighter, Till claimed Danis – who had to pull out of a fight against KSI earlier this year – “100 per cent” won’t show up for his fight against Paul on 14 October.
“He’s not going to take the fight, I’m sure of that, but I’m ready to step in any time and they can contact me or my management. All the details are on Twitter [X].”
And then, in comments which will likely irritate KSI, Till noted the YouTuber did “look a little bit scared” during his face-off against Tommy Fury and that “Jake Paul’s probably the only guy who’s beating any real fighters at the moment”.
While KSI co-founded Prime with former boxing opponent Logan, the YouTuber has had a long-running feud with Jake ever since he defeated content creator Joe Weller in 2018 for his first fight and called out the “It’s Everyday Bro” rapper in an interview afterwards.
After Jake Paul took on Tommy Fury himself in a boxing match earlier this year, and secured his first loss, KSI released a video in which he said, while bursting out laughing: “They said you can’t beat a professional fighter, and they were right! You couldn’t!”
Previous opponents for the younger Paul brother have included former basketball player Nate Robinson, ex-MMA star Ben Askren and former UFC champion Tyron Woodley.
While KSI claimed during Tuesday’s press conference that “people are going to look at me differently” if he is victorious, Tommy Fury insisted “YouTube boxing will be done” if he defeats the rapper.
However, Till believes the form of boxing is “here to stay”.
“Jake’s at the forefront and Tommy’s already beaten him, although it was a close fight. I think influencer boxing is here to stay and we just have to make do with it because it's where the money is,” he said.
KSI and Logan Paul take on Tommy Fury and Dillon Danis respectively on 14 October in Manchester.
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