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Topics: Boxing, Tommy Fury, Jake Paul, Eddie Hearn
Ryan Sidle
Eddie Hearn has had a 'total u-turn' when it comes to Jake Paul's fight against Tommy Fury on Sunday night, changing his prediction for the winner.
It's the big fight at the weekend, the WBC Cruiserweight title fight between Ilunga Makabu and Badou Jack, but after that Jake Paul and Tommy Fury will finally get in the ring.
The two men, with a mammoth 14 professional fights between them, are finally set to go one-on-one after years of animosity that started on social media.
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On the line for Paul is genuinely an actual world ranking, despite the fact that is opponents to date have included YouTubers, basketball players and MMA fighters.
Both men will also be fighting for a belt, because the WBC have made the very sane decision to make a commemorative one, the Diriyah Championship, for the event, they really will make a belt for anything.
Despite having the background in the sport, Fury is actually the underdog for the fight, according to the bookies, and even Matchroom chief Hearn has been thinking the younger brother of Tyson Fury would lose.
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However, promoter has now had a complete change of heart, revealing he is now backing the former Love Islander to win if he comes out of the blocks.
"I have made a total U-turn on this fight. I thought Jake Paul was going to win this fight. I now think Jake Paul has absolutely no chance to win this fight at all," Hearn told Boxing Social.
"If Tommy Fury comes out aggressively and puts it on Jake Paul, this fight will not go two rounds.
"This is a massive u-turn for me because both are limited, but Tommy Fury as limited as he is for a professional boxer has been boxing for ten or twelve years, maybe more. He’s been in the ring against professional fighters, he’s done the hard spars, he’s an outsider in this fight, but he is going to win by stoppage.
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"He should come out like a train and he will stop him out."
That fight was really the start of the scene that has seen the younger Paul fight the likes of former UFC champions Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva.
The Matchroom boss has also been involved with Jake, in the 26-year-old's role promoting women's boxer Amanda Serrano, against Hearn's boxer Katie Taylor.
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Last year, Hearn started legal proceedings against Paul, after the undefeated boxer claimed that the British promoter had paid off a judge during Anthony Joshua's second loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
That's not the reason for his change in prediction however, with Hearn adding, "I've just changed my mind completely, I've thought about it just like 'no'. Tommy Fury knows how to punch correctly and knows how to fight, but if he dithers around and just boxes with him, anything could happen.
"If he sticks it on him, he will stop him inside two rounds. He should come out like a train and he will knock him out."