Jake Paul has attributed his loss to Tommy Fury to ‘four weeks’ of sickness in the lead-up to Sunday’s fight.
YouTuber-turned-boxer Paul lost a narrow decision to Fury – half-brother of heavyweight champion Tyson – in Saudi Arabia, marking the American’s first loss as a professional boxer.
Meanwhile, Briton Fury remained unbeaten with the split-decision victory.
“I was sick for four weeks out of this nine-week camp,” Paul said on his BS w/Jake Paul podcast. “Then I was travelling and jet-lagged for like another week out of that.
“What’s p***ing me off the most is that it had nothing to do with [Fury], it had everything to do with me. He wasn’t that great at all.
“I think Anderson [Silva, former UFC champion] was tougher than him, and I figured out that puzzle.
“[Fury] threw a lot of punches, that was his biggest thing. [His power] is good, it’s good; it’s whatever.”
Paul entered the fight with a 6-0 professional record, having knocked out former mixed martial arts champions Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren, and having most recently beaten UFC legend Silva on points. Meanwhile, Fury – who is best known as a former Love Island contestant – was 8-0 ahead of Sunday’s main event.
Paying respect to Fury, Paul said: “He’s definitely blossomed, overnight superstar, it’s great for him.
“I think he’s a good kid, we had a bunch of respect for each other spoken in the locker room. He said, ‘Let’s do the rematch.’
“He seems very level headed and down to earth. We both kind of were just like, ‘Yeah, we talked a lot of s***, built this fight up, did a great job promoting it.’
“There was a mutual respect there. We hugged, talked about everything. I have respect for the guy; I think that’s the most beautiful thing about this sport: You can be arch-enemies and then find a respect for each other after beating the s*** out of each other and going to war.
“It’s definitely really cool, I’m happy for him for sure.”
Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.
