Moment of truth as Jake Paul and Tommy Fury land in Saudi Arabia for grudge match

RIYADH: With under a week to go, Jake Paul and Tommy Fury are in Saudi Arabia and gearing up to finally settle their long-running dispute in the ring at Diriyah Arena on Feb. 26.

Twice postponed, Paul versus Fury sees two undefeated fighters face off in the latest headline boxing event to take place in Saudi Arabia. This follows “Clash on the Dunes” between Andy Ruiz Jr. and Anthony Joshua in 2019 and last summer’s “Rage on the Red Sea,” which again featured Joshua in a second meeting with Oleksandr Usyk.

“I’m delighted to finally be here in Saudi Arabia,” Fury said on arrival at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. “First and foremost, I’d like to thank the Ministry of Sport, Saudi Arabian Boxing Federation, Prince Khaled, and all those who’ve worked hard to get this fight on and make it happen in such a fantastic country that’s fast becoming a new home for global sport.

“I’ve trained too hard, sparred too many decent guys and have too much experience for there to be any other outcome. There’s nothing Jake Paul does inside that ring that has me worried. He’s delusional for believing he’s going to win — I’m levels above him and he’s going to find that out the hard way.”

Paul responded in a similar dismissive manner. “I’m going to show him on Feb. 26 that this is the hurt business,” said Paul. “I’ve sparred against harder guys, people who are world champions and ranked number one in their divisions, so preparations could not have gone any better and I don’t feel any pressure going into this fight. People are definitely going to see a knockout and I’ll finish him inside three or four rounds. Tommy’s not going to like this sport anymore when I’m done with him.”

Ravi Samani, COO and acting head of marketing,