Tommy Fury offered alternative fight should Jake Paul refuse to rearrange bout

01/03/2022

Tommy Fury has been offered a fight with MMA fighter Chris Avila should he be unable to reschedule his bout with Jake Paul.

The Love Island star was supposed to face YouTuber Paul in Florida last month, but was forced to pull out when he broke his ribs while battling an illness in training camp.

And despite he and his promoter Frank Warren angling heavily for a rescheduled date, the bout has yet to be confirmed by Paul, who is on holiday in St Barth's and planning to be out of the ring until July.

But Fury has been told that he has another challenge waiting in Avila, who is a close friend and teammate of Nick and Nate Diaz.

Avila, a much smaller fighter who has competed at 145lb in the UFC, recently defeated Fury's former rival Anthony Taylor on the undercard of Paul's rematch with Tyron Woodley.

"I’m gunning for the Tommy Fury fight," Avila told MMAFighting, after taking his boxing record to 1-1 against Taylor. "That’s the kind of fight that would excite me right now.

"Him or A.J. McKee [Bellator featherweight champion], but I’m gunning for the Tommy Fury fight next.”

Avila, who is 8-9 in MMA after runs in Bellator and the UFC, believes that Taylor defeated Fury when they fought back in August, despite the Brit winning a unanimous four-round decision on all three scorecards.

And he says that he could comfortably beat the reality TV star, whose brother is world heavyweight champion Tyson, if they ever meet in the ring.

“You see what I did to my opponent, that was just light work for me,” Avila continued.

“The fight between him and Tommy Fury, I had Taylor beating Fury. Fury is just overrated.

"I think I can expose that guy. Who knows if that guy is even going to fight either.

“I think I’d smoke Tommy in a [boxing match]. I know I can smoke Tommy in a fight.”

Would you like to see Tommy Fury fight Chris Avila this year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Avila is a member of the Diaz brothers' team, and has previously faced Taylor in MMA, where he lost a majority decision, as well as famed Conor McGregor training partner Artem Lobov.

But he is unlikely to get the opportunity against Fury, who is expected to return to training at the end of February or start of March and will be angling hard for another shot at Paul.

The YouTube star's reason for wanting a fight with Fury is to legitimise himself as a boxer against somebody with a professional record, which Fury does at 7-0.

However, another option has presented itself for Paul in the form of ex-middleweight world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

The Mexican boxer, whose father is former pound-for-pound great Julio Cesar Chavez, has said that he was offered $3million to face Paul, but given that he would be moving up in weight for the fight would like a more even split.

He was champion from June of 2011 to September 2012, winning three title defences against the likes of Andy Lee after beating Sebastian Zbik for the belt.

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