In the wake of Tommy Fury’s split from Molly-Mae Hague it’s been abundantly clear where the sympathy lies.
As Gen Z declare it the modern equivalent of Charles and Diana divorcing – with the heartbroken young mother cast as the ‘People’s Princess’.
Rumours of infidelity have made matters worse in the week since Molly-Mae kicked the boxer, 25, out of her £3.8m Cheshire mansion.
Including the accusation that he kissed a Danish partygoer on a wild holiday to Macedonia earlier this year, which the woman in question has now denied.
Molly-Mae is reportedly ‘bracing herself’ for the girls she ‘expects’ to come forward with similar claims.
While Tommy’s representatives have insisted he’s ‘horrified’ by cheating claims and is considering legal action.
It could not have come at a worse time, given the publication of his first book, Lightning Can Strike Twice:
My Life as a Fury, is just weeks away, with the blurb promising a ‘candid insight into his life at home’ with his ex-fiancée and their daughter Bambi’.
With publishers said to be scrambling to find a solution, Fury finds himself with the unenviable task of trying to rebuild his reputation.
Both personally and professionally.
Like so many reality TV ‘stars’ his CV is something of a mish-mash – best summed up as a one-time professional boxing hopeful who switched to big money fights against YouTubers who aren’t real athletes – while nurturing a strong social media brand and appearing on reality TV.
Now one of Britain’s top PR experts, Mark Borkowski, tells MailOnline that to repair his public image, it’s crucial for Fury to ‘surround himself with people who have an aura of legitimacy and respect’.
‘The first step is to grab the narrative by the throat,’ he explained. ‘This means getting ahead of any bad press. Tommy should look for sympathy or at least position understanding.
‘Look like the victim, not the villain. Cry a bit. Show some scars. Not too much to look weak, but just enough to seem human. A few well-timed public appearances perhaps. Change the look, change the tone. Create a version 2.0 that the public finds refreshing, if not entirely convincing.
‘He could surround himself with people who have an aura of legitimacy and respect. Hanging out with sports stars, respected entertainers, gives the impression he is running with the right crowd.’
The challenge behind that strategy is that Fury’s boxing career now stands at a crossroads after ditching the professional sport for big money fights.
He insists that he will return to the pro sport and has the benefit of one of the greatest boxers of all time to help him – his older half brother Tyson – who has trained him and insists the reality star can still go on to win world titles.
Fury must decide whether he wants respect and legitimacy as a sports star, or fast money from the crossover scene, while his other endeavours outside the ring – from his book to reality TV shows and brand deals – hang in the balance.
Earned £20 million from boxing – but lacks reputation as a professional sportsman
Fury fought his first professional bout in 2018 against Jevgenijs Andrejevs, claiming his maiden victory against a fighter with an unenviable 10 wins to his name and 102 defeats.
It’s common in professional boxing for fighters to take on opponents known as ‘journeymen’ to build up experience.
In less flattering terms, it’s known as building a ‘padded record’ by competing against fighters with little or no chance of winning to build up your own list of victories.
Chasing his initial win with his first knockout victory against Callum Idle three months later in March 2019, it looked as Fury was slowly toiling to build up a firm pedigree.
Love Island that summer derailed that and changed Fury’s path irrevocably. Now, more people were watching his next move than ever, doubly weighed down by his budding celebrity and his famous surname.
Fury wracked up a strong record, going without defeats, and snuck onto larger and larger cards, most notably his clash with Daniel Bocianski in 2022 – but this was to be his last professional opponent.
In February the following year he stepped into the ring as a ‘crossover boxer’, taking on American YouTuber Jake Paul.
This was followed in October 2023 by entrepreneur and influecncer KSI on the hotly debated Judgement Day Card, a showcase for the biggest names in ‘crossover boxing’ – which sees YouTube, social media, or combat sports stars from other disciplines compete.
Promoter Misfits Boxing is owned by KSI, raising inevitable questions about the legitimacy of the contest, but with such big money at stake, that’s a secondary concern.
That night in October was the apex of a slew of crossover fights that pay out big money and draw feverish eyeballs, both via pay-per-view and online in the build-up.
Since then, Fury has gone without opponents, and he has no fights in the offing.
Now might prove the perfect moment to relaunch his professional career with new invigoration – but the question is, does he have the motivation?
Fury insists world titles are in his future, and in 2023 he claimed that he’s ‘eager to learn, win titles, and go down as a proper boxer’ rather than a celebrity sideshow.
But Fury has been the first to admit that the lure of crossover boxing, with its social media drama and accompanying scores of eyeballs, is proving too strong to resist.
‘I’m definitely in for the crossover fights,’ Fury told MMA Junkie in October last year. ‘I want to be a part of that.
‘I want to keep doing massive events because financially, it’s great, and it’s great to be part of these massive events. But you know what? After it’s all said and done, I will return back to proper boxing and I’ll test myself against the best.’
However, those crossover bouts have hardly provided the best platform for going toe-to-toe with the best.
The Love Island star first went into the ties with a point to prove: that he, the professional boxer, would make these YouTube chancers look commonplace. Instead, Fury’s clashes with Paul and KSI have dragged the boxer down to their level with two skin-of-his-teeth victories.
Paul was able to knock Fury down in their scrappy Saudi Arabia-based clash, but was stymied by a points deduction after hitting his opponent in the back of the head. With a knockout required to swipe victory, Paul ultimately fell short, but Fury was only capable of winning via split decision.
More contentious was his victory later on in 2023 against KSI, in which he was on the receiving end of a points deduction this time around. Fury, the home favourite at the AO Arena in Manchester, won by majority decision much to his rival’s displeasure.
For his part, Fury branded the event ‘horrible’.
‘I’m not going to beat around the bush. Was it my best performance? No, very far from it, and it was a horrible watch,’ he said.
‘At the end of the day, what do you want it to be when just one man wants to hop up and down and not engage?’ Fury added. ‘In traditional boxing, you stand there and you fight.
‘You don’t up and down the ring and jump in with a little shot. So it’s a scrappy, scrappy affair. Everyone knows what we’re doing.
‘We all know KSI is awkward anyway. He’s not a boxer. He’s a horrible man to fight.’
Reluctance to move back to professional boxing
Any fighter’s camp might find it difficult to justify taking the leap from crossover boxing to challenging for a title, but caught up in the storm of big-money social media fights, Fury seems to have become a little inhibited about moving back into a more competitive realm.
On the heels of facing KSI, the 25-year-old was called out by the unified cruiserweight world champion Jai Opetaia and given a chance to put his money where his mouth is.
‘If he wants to fight for a world title, he can come and get it,’ Opetaia told FOX Sports. ‘I’ll happily beat the c**p out of him and get straight back to chasing those belts.
Fury’s response to Mail Sport was one of slick disinterest, poking fun at Opetaia for using his name for attention, saying: ‘It’s really good. It’s funny. It’s good to be in this position.’
But somewhere between Paul and Opetaia are the higher-ranked opponents Fury should be fighting, with a future tilt at Opetaia firmly in mind. Most boxers in his position without the famous surname and influencer profile would be racing towards the opportunity, and Fury would not be short of rivals in the run-up.
Before his transition to the higher-profile social media fights, none of Fury’s victories came against particularly challenging opponents, his unblemished record coming with the smallest asterisk. Fury seems unwilling to put himself to the test, away from the spotlight.
Neither is his future in crossover fighting assured. Paul and Fury were widely assumed to be putting together a rematch months after their first fight, but in December of last year, the American claimed that Fury had priced himself out of a second bout.
Discussing a call he is alleged to have had with Fury and his father John, Paul jibed that it was ‘clear their main concern was money and not about actually getting the fight done.
‘After offering him the largest guarantee on the biggest stage he’d ever receive they have gone silent.
‘I smell fear. Real fighting man would jump at the chance to make his biggest payday ever and actually live up to his claim that he’s going to KO me.’
Paul now has bigger fish to fry – namely boxing legend Mike Tyson, in a controversial mismatch which has already been postponed once – and Fury remains opponentless. A half-hearted call to Conor McGregor has gone out, but the former UFC man has his eyes trained on getting back in the octagon.
Alternatively, Fury may think he has done enough for the time being to keep up his reputation as a professional boxer without losing his unmarked record of success.
Half-brothers Tommy and Tyson share the same father John Fury but have different mothers.
Tyson became the king of the heavyweight division when he dethroned Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf in November 2015, only to surrender his belts amid problems in his private life.
In 2017, when Tommy was 17 years old and in school, Tyson was spiraling off the rails and suffered with depression, while battling probelms with drink and drugs.
Tommy and Tyson have trained alongside each other on multiple occasions and supported each other through their separate fights.
In November 2021, Tyson decided to help Tommy train for his fight with Logan Paul – which was scheduled to take place on December 2021 before it was called off after the Love Island star broke a rib and was also suffering from a chest infection.
Nevertheless, Tyson took to Instagram to share a series of photos and videos with his half-brother during their training camp.
Tyson explained how he had had adopted the role of ‘coach’, saying: ‘Just finished my first morning session as a trainer, really happy with myself the way things went. All the boys trained hard.’
Fury then turned to his half-brother and asked: ‘how was it?’. To which Tommy responded: ‘The run this morning was good, good leg work – I’m feeling good, feeling fit. Trainer T is doing the best job!’.
Tommy went on to say: ‘He’s getting knocked spark out, two rounds. Tyson added: ‘Jake Paul, we’re coming for you!’.
The pair were also seen training alongside each other after flying to Miami in May 2021 on a private jet, doing workouts together, hitting the gym, training in the boxing ring and heading on gruelling four-mile beach runs.
They managed to fit in some beach clubs and swanky dinners, but Tyson’s priorities were clear.
‘If Tommy can’t splatter Jake Paul, I’ll retire him from boxing myself. If he can’t beat Jake Paul, forget about boxing,’ he said.
‘Because he’s got ambitions of being a world champion, never mind beating some YouTube guy. But it’s a great fight for the social media world and for all the kids out there who support them both.
‘It’s a great fight to watch, it’s a spectacle. But Tommy – his name’s Fury. If he can’t beat Jake Paul, I’ll have to change his name.’
Tyson went on to say that Tommy would be banned from returning home if he lost to the YouTuber-turned-boxer.
In 2023, Tyson revealed his younger brother Tommy ‘was flying high’ after he banked more than ‘£20million’ from his boxing career following his influencer fights against KSI and Jake Paul.
Tyson helped to train him for his fight against KSI, and afterwards gushed over his younger brother’s career and how he was ‘flying high’ with his ‘£5million mansion, flash cars and designer gear’.
He said: ‘I can be brutally honest because we always are.
‘The fact that Tommy’s made $10m for this fight he’s 24 years old, he’s probably made $26m from his 10-fight career, it’s unbelievable!
‘I’m very, very proud of where he’s come from. In 2018 Tommy didn’t have $10 for a bus pass, today he’s got a hell of a lot of money so I’m very proud of him – he can buy what he wants.
‘He’s got a $5m mansion, G-Wagons, Lambos, Rolexes, the guy’s flying’.
Certainly, getting repeatedly punched in the face could do some damage to Fury’s other moneyspinner – a raft of endorsement deals that come with his standing as an influencer.
Fury has 5.4million followers on Instagram (although 20,000 reportedly jumped ship in the aftermath of his break-up), and has sponsorship deals with brands including ASOS, boohooMAN, Diesel, Monster, Young LA, Marks & Spencer, and, somewhat bizarrely, the Hungarian tourism board.
He also has more than enough strings to the Brand Fury bow, with over 105,000 subscribers to his YouTube channel, where he regularly shares lifestyle vlogs.
Tommy suffered a blow and lost 20,000 Instagram followers from ‘disappointed’ and ‘angry’ fans on his platform, while Molly-Mae has gained thousands of new followers on her Instagram following her split.
The fighter has even managed to parlay his marketable face into film, with the announcement in March that Fury would appear in a supporting role in Oceana Studios’ ‘The Debt Inherited’, starring Peaky Blinders actor Paul Anderson.
Described as having ‘universal themes of survival engulfed in a lurking Kafka-esque feeling of high-stakes and hysterical satire with events unfolding in unimaginable ways,’ the film will see Fury play ‘Johnny – a no-nonsense henchman’.
Time will tell if Fury has the acting chops to forge a long-term path in film, but with every new venture, boxing appears to be sliding further and further from the top of his list of priorities.
And who’d want to collect an Oscar with a recently broken nose?
His other on-screen venture with Molly-Mae is now looking highly, unless they were to suddenly reunite.
The estranged couples were in talks to open up their lives to cameras and film a new series about their family life.
Molly-Mae and Tommy, who share daughter Bambi, 20 months, were planning on documenting what goes on behind doors – just like his older brother Tyson.
But Tommy’s decisions, seemingly that led to their split, appears to have squashed this plan.
A source previously told Grazia: ‘Molly-Mae and Tommy are in talks to star in their own reality series with Prime Video.
‘Over the years, they have had multiple streaming platforms approach them to do a fly-on-the-wall show, their lives and careers are so interesting and their fanbase would love a closer look into everything that goes on behind the scenes.’
Of course, that won’t be happening now – but there is the option of his brother Tyson’s docuseries Meet The Furys, a second season is en route, and perhaps fated to cover the enfolding drama in his personal life.
An inevitable stint on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! has also been hinted at.
In a YouTube video before their split, Molly-Mae spoke about the ‘stress’ writing the memoir and recording the audio book alongside it had put on their relationship, saying she’d been a ‘single mother’ for weeks while Tommy was busy working.
But despite his determination, now there is a ‘major concern’ over the book and whether it will even be published – due to the drama surrounding their split.
The book was written before the fallout and is said to feature gushing chapters about Tommy’s romance with Molly-Mae.
On Amazon, the price has already been slashed on Amazon from £25 to £12.50 with hopes a new chapter could be added to address the split and save the venture from disaster.
A source told The Sun: ‘There’s major concern over the impact of the revelations. The price has been reduced already and this new storm is making it harder to sell — especially given all his gushing about his life with Molly-Mae and their daughter Bambi.
‘Without a new chapter, the book is outdated. Meetings are ongoing about what can be done to turn it around.’
According to brand expert Nick Ede, Molly-Mae has come out on top and TOmmy has been left ‘much more exposed’ by the relationship crisis.
‘The pair were in talks for a reality show to follow them as they juggle being new parents and their lives,’ he said. ‘But I can see Molly being offered a lot more for her own story going it alone as a single mother.
‘Many brands wont want to work with Tommy because of the negative connotations of being connected to him so he will lose lucrative deals.
‘So I think Tommy will go back to his roots and set up more fights like he did with Jake Paul. He can make a lot of money from these and people will want to see him back in the ring and see who can beat him.
‘I am sure lots of TV companies will want to lure him to be on a reality show like Celebrity Big Brother or I’m a Celebrity – these are great ways to make money and also rehabilitate your reputation.
We may even see him on Celebs Go Dating for the next season.
‘With the Fury name behind him I don’t think this is the last we will see of Tommy but he’s taken a battering professionally and personally and I think it will take a long time for him to get back on track and win back the public too.’
According Mark Borkowski, Tommy is in urgent need of ‘new endeavours that make the past seem like a distant memory’.
‘Launch a business, start a fitness program, or release a book—anything that gets people talking about something other than his behaviour that dumped him into this mess,’ he said.
‘He must choose media appearances wisely or go dark. When resurfacing, he must make sure it’s for something worthwhile and impactful. Absence makes the public forgetful, if not forgiving. Above all Tommy must rebuild trust and reengage with fans
‘In the end, its a delicate dance between public perception and personal branding.’
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Source: New York Post
