Tommy Fury’s doctor fears long lay-off after cancelled Jake Paul fight

Fury was forced to pull out of his fight with Jake Paul after picking up a nasty rib in jury after battling a severe chest infection, and his doctor says he will be out for a long time

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Tommy Fury addresses pulling out of Jake Paul fight

Tommy Fury looks set for an extended period on the sidelines after pulling out of his fight with Jake Paul yesterday.

The Love Island star was due to fight YouTuber Paul on December 18, but was forced to cancel the bout due to a rib injury and a severe chest infection.

He showed off an x-ray of his injury last night, and explained how he had a rib broken during a sparring session after trying to battle through his illness.

Paul will now fight Tyron Woodley in a rematch of their August bout, with Fury now sweating over whether he will be granted a shot at the social media star.

Fury’s doctor, Usman Sajjad took to Instagram to defend his patient, saying that he could have suffered more serious injury had he continued training and taken the fight.

“As the team doctor amidst the injury, I had no choice but to deem him as an unfit to box,” Sajjad said. “From the scan, the extent of the fracture is severe and we are looking at a lengthy recovery period.

“That’s a decision I will happily take responsibility for as it’s the safety of the athlete you have to consider.”

The doctor, who also works with Tommy’s brother; world heavyweight champion Tyson, insists that Fury was at risk of a collapsed lung had he continued on with the bout.

And he even added that persisting with the fight could have threatened Fury’s life, with a cardiac arrest a possible result of aggravating the injury.

“Boxing with a broken rib leaves a huge chance of suffering a Pneumothorax (collapsed lung) which is a medical emergency,” he continued.

“This can result in a potential cardiac arrest. Is boxing or any sport worth someone losing their life over and leaving behind a family

“It’s very easy for these fans to say they ‘would box with that’. Forget boxing, try functioning day to day with one broken rib, let alone multiple.”

Fury is hoping to reschedule his bout with Paul, although the YouTube star is concerned about giving him another main stage opportunity.

The reality TV star, who has a 7-0 boxing record, insists that Paul is the only opponent on his mind, and has promised to face his rival in his return to the ring next year.

He says that he was “throwing up from the pain” of his injury, and was forced to pull out by his medical team.

“Training camp couldn’t have gone any better for me for the first week or two,” Fury said in a social media video.

“But then I contracted a bacterial chest infection which led me to go to the gym and not being able to breathe.

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“My sparring sessions, pad work sessions , whatever it may be I wasn’t able to breathe and I was coughing up huge amounts of phlegm all the time.

“It led me to sleepless nights and that went on for four weeks. I had the mind-set of, ‘I”m going to train, I’m going to get through this, I’m going to fight no matter what’.

“Four weeks past and we decided to have a sparing session and I took a little clip to the body and because my body was so weak due to the virus, I instantly knew something wasn’t right.

“I was throwing up from the pain , I was doubled over. I literally got my bag and went straight to the hospital for an MRI scan and got the results back the same day.

“The results showed I had a clean break and I had multiple fractures.

“For the following week I still thought I could fight but then it took the doctor and my whole team to say you can’t fight.”