By: Sean Crose
Things haven’t been going well for Jake Paul lately. After Tommy Fury was unable to travel to the US to face off against the fiery class of cruisers on August 6, Hasim Rahman Jr, son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, agreed to take Fury’s place. It certainly seemed like an interesting matchup, as Rahman had an actual career as a boxer, in contrast to Paul’s previous opponents, all of whom were novice fighters before the fight. head to him in the ring.
However, on Saturday night, Showtime announced that Paul’s pay-per-view fight with Rahman, which was supposed to take place at Madison Square Garden next Saturday night, had been cancelled. The reported reason as to why Rahman’s late replacement simply won’t be able to increase the weight. The question now is who Paul will face next.
“First Tommy fell and now Hasim Rahman fell,” Paul tweeted. “These fighters are the hardest to work with and constantly lack the professionalism and confidence to fight me. I apologize to all the other boxers on the card, our partners, our team and the fans. Paul’s advertising outlet, Most Valuable Player, sent out a press release confirming the fight would not happen.
“On July 5,” the statement read, “Hasim Rahman Jr signed an agreement to fight Jake Paul on August 6 at Madison Square Garden with a maximum weight of 200 lbs.” The statement went on to claim that Rahman weighed 216 pounds two days later and that his team made sure he would be able to put on the weight. “On Friday,” the press release continued, “Rahman submitted a weight test to the New York State Athletic Commission to demonstrate that he has lost less than 1 pound since his initial signing to joined the match 24 days earlier.”
Paul then reportedly agreed to let the fight drop to 205 pounds. According to the press release, Team Rahman was awarded a new contract… and that’s when it all really fell apart. “On receipt of this new contract on Saturday morning,” the press release continued, “Rahman’s camp first indicated that he intended to weigh 215 lbs at the official weigh-in and would not agree to weigh in. at 205 lbs.”
Team Rahman then made it clear to Team Paul that the fight would be over if it hadn’t been held at 215 lbs, a full 15 lbs more than originally agreed. And as they say, that’s it. “MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone who has behaved in such a deceptive and calculated manner,” the press release states.
