Eddie Hearn hails Jake Paul for the career he’s built following split decision loss to Tommy Fury

Eddie Hearn has hailed Jake Paul for the career he has built but questioned whether he has reached his limit following his defeat to Tommy Fury via a split decision on Sunday.

Fury was the rightful winner in the end, with the judges calling the fight 76-73, 76-73, 74-75 in his favour on a dramatic night in Saudi Arabia.

The fight between the British former Love Island contestant and a YouTuber-turned-boxer was the result of over two years of social media warfare that saw a clash culminate only at the third time of asking.

Fury had to pull out of the two previously arranged contests and was bombarded with claims that he was scared to fight the seemingly less decorated boxer in Paul.

Despite being defeated for the first time in his short boxing career, Paul managed to knockdown Fury in the final round.

Speaking about Paul’s efforts, Matchroom promoter Hearn told DAZN: ‘For the level of experience he has, which is none, I think he’s done unbelievably well.

‘For what he’s done, he’s done really well. He’s trained hard, he’s built the fundamentals, he’s tough, but you just don’t turn around at 23 and go ‘I’m gonna be a professional boxer’ then box at any level. From what he’s had, he’s done brilliant.’ 

It comes just a week on from Hearn disagreeing with the WBC’s decision to name Paul as a world-ranked fighter in the cruiserweight division.

The WBC confirmed prior to the fight that if Paul had beaten Fury, he would move into their top 40 rankings. 

Hearn disagreed with the decision and claimed that the WBC were only allowing it because of the publicity the social media giant brings.

 ‘Sometimes governing bodies have to live in that commercial world as well. Tommy Fury’s a proper fighter and Jake Paul would make a statement if he won that fight,’ he told iFL TV,

Hearn went on to add: ‘Not a statement that he can challenge for a world title, but, ultimately, there’s a little bit of publicity in there.

‘Is it right? Not really. Because there’s fighters that deserve to be in the top 15 much more than Jake Paul, but it’s the world we live in.’

Hearn had actually predicted Paul to beat Fury via a knockout, suggesting the Problem Child had mentally broken his opponent.

However, it would not be the case with Fury ultimately triumphing on points. Talks of a rematch surfaced immediately, with Paul suggesting he would fight Fury again before anyone else, including YouTuber KSI.

‘For sure I need to get this one back and KSI is yet to fight a real opponent so we don’t know his actual skill level,’ he said in his post-fight press conference.

‘Obviously that’s a massive fight but I’m gonna go back for this rematch. I just talked to Tommy back in the medical room and he was like “let’s go, let’s do it again”.