Tommy Fury is running out of time if his on-off fight versus KSI is to go ahead, with the YouTuber setting a deadline of ‘this week’ to finally agree a deal.
Fury came out on top in a split points decision against Jake Paul in February, wrecking the latter’s hopes of facing his arch-rival KSI in a potential December grudge match.
After turning his nose up to a rematch with Fury, Paul will now fight UFC star Nate Diaz on August 5 in Texas, leaving KSI with a straight shot at 24-year-old Fury. However, the two fighters have struggled to agree on a deal after a row over the agreed weight for the fight rumbled on.
Fury wanted the fight to be contested at 185lb, while KSI originally wanted it to be at 180lb. But the 30-year-old has since declared that he would meet Fury’s weight demand providing that he agreed to a rehydration clause.
KSI wrote on Twitter: “Tommy I wanna KO your a** so badly that I’ll come up in weight and do 185lbs if you agree to do the weigh-in on the morning of fight day. Nice fair fight. If not you will forever be known as Tommy Ducky.”
Mams Taylor, who manages KSI and alongside him is a co-founder of Misfits Boxing, told The Sun: “Whether it’s on or off, we should know sometime this week. I’m just going to let you know, this week is going to be an interesting week.”
Fury remains KSI’s first-choice opponent, but Taylor accepted that his camp need to be able to adapt quickly if the drawn-out negotiations did not ultimately result in an agreement.
He said: “There’s always a threat it’s not a done deal until you have the signed contracts, there’s always a threat after you have the signed contracts. This is boxing, someone could get injured, it’s not celeb darts. We’ve had some bad luck with pullouts and you have to think fast.
“We’ve had to come up with creative solutions and it won’t be any different if anyone pulls out of our fights, we always try to have ones on standby. But, I do believe this is a great fight and a great test for JJ and I think he’s got this in the bag if they do end up fighting.”
The rehydration clause is a rule that limits how much weight a competitor is allowed to put back on ahead of a fight, following the weigh-in. KSI had the same clause in his fight with Fournier, which was contested at 190lb.