Hasim Rahman Jr has blamed Jake Paul for the cancellation of their fight.
YouTube star Paul announced last night that he had scrapped next weekend's card at Madison Square Garden in New York, accusing his rival of refusing to cut to first the original 200lb weight limit and then the renegotiated limit of 205lb. Paul claimed Rahman Jr said he would only fight at 215lb, which would have meant losing just one pound since he signed to fight earlier this month.
Rahman Jr, a heavyweight with a record of 12-1, responded by tweeting: "Jake and his 'team' cancelled this fight, not me! The fight isn’t happening on their accord not MINE!" He also retweeted several users who claimed it was Paul who had backed out of the bout.
Paul announced the fight was off with a lengthy statement claiming Rahman Jr weighed 216lb when he agreed to the fight. His opponent then requested the weight limit was increased to 205lb, to which Paul agreed but the YouTube star then baulked when asked to increase it again to 215lb.
In a video released on social media, Paul said: "Hasim Rahman Jr has pulled out of the fight. This is not a joke, I am devastated, I cannot f***ing believe this; we just found out this news. This is another case of a professional boxer, just like Tommy Fury, being scared to fight me.
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"It is as clear as day that these guys have been so unprofessional to work with, looking for any excuse to suck more money out of this event, to coerce us into doing things and I knew from the jump that this guy didn't want to get in the ring with me.
"The biggest pay day of his life times 10 and he's fumbling it. For what? Because he knows he's going to get knocked out by me. The pressure starts to set in and it's exactly what happens with all these guys. I'm sick of it, I'm devastated and I apologise to everyone on the undercard. This is absurd but there's nothing I can do about it; I apologise to the fans and I'll be back at some point."
