Tommy Fury on Jake Paul Purse Bet: 'A Handshake Is as Good as a Contract'
March 2, 2023![British reality TV star Tommy Fury celebrates after he won by split decision against US YouTuber Jake Paul in a boxing match held at Diriyah in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 27, 2023. (Photo by Fayez Nureldine / AFP) (Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images)](https://media.bleacherreport.com/image/upload/w_40,h_27,c_fill/v1677778900/sohx2wwl8yggxekqpvzh.jpg)
Jake Paul and Tommy Fury made a purse bet at their press conference a week ago, with Paul saying he would "double what I'm paying you already" if Fury won and "take everything that I'm paying you" if he won.
But Fury beat the YouTuber-turned-boxer by a split decision, and now he wants to see Paul live up to his word.
"At the end of the day, we were live on TV and we shook hands," Fury said on Good Morning Britain (h/t Michael Benson of talkSPORT). "We're old-fashioned guys, so a handshake means everything to us, but let's see if he honors it or not. A handshake is as good as a contract to us."
It's not as though Paul doesn't have the money to spare—he bragged on social media that he earned $30 million for the fight and claimed that the PPV buys hit 500,000.
"I guess the silver lining is that the pay-per-views are off the charts," he said on his podcast (h/t Damon Martin of MMA Fighting). "Probably going to be the biggest fight of the year. It's going to be hard to contend with. Maybe [Ryan] Garcia and [Gervonta] Davis. It's probably coming at over half a million buys. Still totaling everything. So the business is great."
Whether those estimates are accurate or not is unclear—Paul, if nothing else, is more than a little adept at the art of self-promotion—but by all accounts, he could afford to double Fury's purse.
According to reports, Paul was set to take home a fixed $3.2 million purse alongside 65 percent of the PPV revenue, while Fury was set to earn a $2 million purse and 35 percent of the PPV revenue.
However they ultimately settle, or don't settle, their verbal bet, it seems likely that a rematch is on the table.
"We can run it back," Paul said after the fight. "I think we deserve that rematch. All respect to Tommy, he won. Don't judge me by my wins, judge me by my losses. I felt flat—I got sick really bad twice in this camp, injured my arm. This wasn't my best performance, but that's no excuse. This is definitely a humbling experience. I've made it further than I ever thought that I would, and beyond."
Fury is ready for a second crack at Paul too.
"I had a dream and a vision that I would win this fight and no one believed me," he said. "I had pressure on my shoulders and I came through. This to me is a world title fight—I've trained so hard for this. This was my destiny, we did it. This was my first main event. I will come back bigger and better and stronger, if he wants the rematch he can bring it on."