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Terrible news for the millions desperately hoping to see a rematch between Jake Paul and Tyron Woodley, as Paul told ESPN he’s not going to do it because Woodley didn’t get the tattoo from their stupid bet nobody ever thought either side would have actually done.
Paul says that Woodley has cost himself money, and that if Woodley had gotten the tattoo, Paul “would have been sort of forced” to do the rematch:
“I’m over it. I’m leaving Tyron in the past. He didn’t live up to the bet — he didn’t get the tattoo. So, the rematch just doesn’t make sense anymore. ... If he would have gotten the tattoo right away, got 10 million views on his Instagram video, everyone would have been super hyped, there would have been a ton of press around it. ... So, he fucked up. He missed out on another big payday because of his ego.”
With the 39-year-old Woodley seemingly out of the running for Paul (4-0, 4 KO in his novelty boxing career), the attention now likely will turn to Tommy Fury, who won a fight on the Paul-Woodley undercard, and was on said undercard for a reason.
Paul also named Anderson Silva as a potential opponent, but sort of brushed off the dopey PR stunt challenge from Vitor Belfort and Triller. Paul also named UFC’s Jorge Masvidal as a longshot potential opponent.
Most likely, if I were guessing, would be Tommy Fury (7-0, 4 KO), with a revisiting of the Woodley rematch still probably in second place. There may also be a quiet reality in play here, that Paul-Woodley wasn’t some blockbuster PPV; not that the report of 480-500K buys is anything to shake a stick at in today’s boxing world. Pacquiao-Ugas in August, for instance, did a reported 250K.
But Paul can pull that with Woodley, he can probably pull about the same for someone else, and dealing with Woodley again just might be worth it, especially considering the fight was pretty uneventful and I don’t think left a lot of people dying to pay another $50 to see them run it back. Something fresh may just be the better option.