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HEAVY DUTY
KSI faced with accepting Jake Paul’s ‘outrageous’ and ‘unfair’ terms to secure huge £100m YouTube grudge fight
Terms for the grudge match were laid bare
KSI could be forced into accepting "outrageous" and "unfair" terms in order to finally fight Jake Paul.
The pair of YouTube sensations-turned-boxers have rivalled for well over half a decade - fuelling demand for a bitter grudge match.
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But the latest hurdle in talks looks to be the weight difference between the feuding duo.
KSI has fought as light as 175lb whereas Paul's last two bouts have been at the 200lb cruiserweight limit.
Both lost to Tommy Fury and scaled around the 183lb mark.
Paul has since moved up in weight and claimed his body is too naturally big to suck back down to a 185lb catchweight.
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Whereas KSI's team argue the British superstar is already way out of his comfort zone by bulking up to 185lb as it is.
But, his boxing coach Alexis Demetriades insisted they would be willing to make the compromise in order to at last face Paul.
Demetriades told SunSport: "I can be brutally honest with you, we’ve asked for that fight a lot.
"It was offered 175, 180, cool no problem let’s do it. (Jake) didn’t want to do it.
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“Remember, JJ’s fought at 170, he’s gone up to 175, 182 for Tommy, we’ll go up to 185. How much more do you want JJ to go up in weight?
“So let’s meet in the middle, Jake’s fought at 183, we’ll go up to 185. So we’ll go up past what he fought Tommy Fury at, which is outrageous.
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“That’s 15-20lb more than JJ fights at. So we’re giving up that much plus a weight cut. And Jake still doesn’t want to do it.
“What do you want JJ to do? Put dumbbells in his pockets when he weighs in? Literally, I don’t know what else to offer.”
Since losing to Fury, 25, Paul, 27, has gone on to win three more times and returns on July 20.
He does so against ex-UFC star-turned-bare-knuckle-boxer Mike Perry, 32, after his heavyweight showdown against Mike Tyson, 58, was postponed.
KSI, 31, meanwhile has not fought since suffering his first defeat last October to Fury via controversial decision.
He makes his comeback on August 31 in Dublin in a wild two-on-one handicap bout against Anthony Taylor, 34, and Slim Albaher, 29.
But the biggest blockbuster remains between KSI and Paul - which Demetriades admitted in the past could be worth £100MILLION.
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And despite believing his man will have to fight way beyond his natural weight class - they are ready to make the sacrifice.
Demetriades said: “There’s an element where there’s an unfair safety advantage.
"Weight divisions are there for a reason, right? So at what point do we stop?
“I said to JJ, we want to get this kid, OK let’s go up to 185. He fought at 183, we’ll go up to 185 which is nuts because JJ is not naturally that heavy.
“He’s not a natural 185er, the second he gets into camp he comes down. But for that fight, how huge it is and the magnitude of it.
“And, stylistically as well I think we have this guy’s number. That’s just what fighting is about.
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"So we’ll give up the weight and the hydration clause, we’ll figure it out.
“We’ll meet in the middle so everyone is comfortable, winner-takes-all, what’s the problem?”
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