KSI’s Manager Says Jake Paul Backed out of December Fight: ‘It Was Going to Happen’

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Ahead of the highly anticipated boxing match between KSI and Tommy Fury in Manchester, England, on Saturday, KSI’s manager claimed that Jake Paul is ducking his client.

Appearing on The MMA Hour (h/t Alexander K. Lee of MMAFighting.com), Mams Taylor expressed his belief that Paul doesn’t want to fight KSI and divulged that they had a fight agreed to until Paul backed out:

“If he really wanted to fight, we had 99 percent of the terms agreed, [Paul’s co-promoter] Nakisa [Bidarian] and myself. … I even tweeted this fight will happen this year. It was going to happen in December at [Principality Stadium] in Cardiff, 90,000 people. [The PRIME card] wouldn’t have happened. We booked the stadium. We had the date, Dec. 13 or something.

“Nakisa said that Jake changed his mind. We even offered to move it forward to do it on this date, around this date, October or whatever, and then Nakisa called me after the Tommy fight and said, ‘Hey, Jake’s changed his mind. I want him to fight KSI. I think it makes sense for him after losing to Tommy, he should fight KSI, but Jake says he wants a bigger name and someone who he can prove himself more against.'”

Taylor suggested that Paul has “a lot more to lose” than KSI since he doesn’t have as many outside ventures, which may explain his reluctance to fight KSI and risk a loss.

Paul, who first rose to prominence as a YouTuber, had his first pro boxing fight in 2020 and went on to win each of his first six fights. After scoring wins over former UFC stars in Ben Askren, Tyron Woodley and Anderson Silva, Paul suffered his first loss against Fury in February.

That marked the first time Paul fought an actual boxer, but he returned to the formula of taking on MMA fighters in August when he beat another former UFC star in Nate Diaz to improve to 7-1.

KSI is also a YouTube star who has made a name for himself in the boxing world in recent years. He had a pair of amateur fights in 2018, including a draw against Paul’s brother, Logan Paul, which led to his pro debut in 2019.

KSI beat Logan Paul by split decision in his first pro fight and went on to start his career 4-0. In his most recent fight, he knocked out Joe Fournier, but it was switched to a no-decision due to an accidental elbow.

On Saturday, KSI will face his toughest test yet against the 9-0 Fury, who is the younger brother of heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury.

If KSI can pull off the upset, it may prove to be the catalyst needed to finally make the bout with Jake Paul happen.