Hasim Rahman Jr will be allowed to move on from Jake Paul after their August 6 fight, whether he wins or loses.
Paul and his team at Most Valuable Promotions have included a number of stipulations in his contract, including a clause that he loses 25 per cent of his purse for every pound he misses weight. But one that they didn't insert was a clause insisting Paul get another shot at the heavyweight if the fight doesn't go his way.
Rahman Jr is 12-1 as a professional having competed his whole career at heavyweight, and on paper should be far and away Paul's toughest test. But should he manage to get through the fight with a victory, he won't be forced into an immediate rematch, and will have considerable negotiating power if Paul does want it.
The Baltimore native has explained how he was forced into taking or leaving the fight deal, which will be his career-highest purse, within 45 minutes of being offered. He only had time to speak with his dad; former world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, before accepting the contract, which will see him earn less than any of Paul's other opponents.
Asked by the DAZN Boxing Show if there was a rematch clause in the contract, Rahman Jr replied that "there is not," before joking that he was no longer allowed to discuss his other contractual stipulations. He had previously told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that his contract indicated that his payout could hit a minimum of just $5,000 if he were to come in heavy at weigh-ins.
He will have not one but two official weigh-ins, including one on the morning of his fight where he must come in under 214lb after rehydrating from his brutal cut to 200lb. But after that, he will be allowed to weigh what he likes for the fight itself, which is expected around nine hours later.
Rahman Jr stepped in at the last minute to replace Tommy Fury as Paul's next opponent, and in the meantime save the August 6 date the YouTube star had booked at Madison Square Garden. The Brit was unable to fly to America due to a visa issue, and as a result had to pull out of a second fight date with his rival.
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But the build-up to this newly scheduled bout has been equally heated, with Rahman Jr irked by Paul's behaviour in hyping the event. The 5-0 fighter has insisted that he is carrying the fight's promotion, which confused Rahman Jr who noted that he has no need to help promote due to earning no cut of the pay-per-view sales.
"The thing with Jake Paul is he competes for a completely different audience than I compete for," Rahman Jr said. "I don't compete for the audience that wants to see how many followers I have.
"The follower count doesn't matter, it matters to him because that's how people see him as fighting someone legitimate. They check 'how many followers does this person have?' So Jake didn't want to come off as fighting some guy with 5,000 followers, I don't want all my people to see I'm fighting someone with 5,000 followers."
