Hasim Rahman Jr 's dad doesn't think Jake Paul has "knocked out a fighter yet" despite the YouTube star having finished every professional opponent he's faced.
Paul heads into his sixth professional fight against Rahman on August 6 having knocked out fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib, NBA star Nate Robinson and former MMA champions Ben Askren and Tyron Woodley in his last fights. Rahman's father, a former heavyweight champion, has played down Paul's knockout power and insists his son can negate his right hand in their fight.
“We’re not really concerned with Jake Paul’s power. We don’t need to show how good our chin is," he said. "We don’t need to show what his right hand can do. What we can do is take his right hand away from him. We aren’t going to get hit with the right hand, but if we do we are going to fire back with our own counter. It’s going to be an interesting fight. Jake Paul can fight. Don’t get it twisted. But I’m not impressed by the knockouts he’s had. I don’t really feel like he’s knocked out a fighter yet.”
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“Timing beats speed. We got the bigger, stronger fighter. We’ve got the reach advantage. We control the distance of the fight. We control how this fight goes. If we want to make it a slugfest, we will make it a slugfest. If we want to make it a boxing clinic, we’ll make it a boxing clinic. It all depends on what style we want to fight. The fight you are going to see will be dictated by us.
Rahman will fight at cruiserweight for the first time in his professional career, with the heavyweight last weighing 224lb for his knockout loss to Tommy Morrison in April. His father insists that Rahman has the ability to take Paul into deep waters and win on the scorecards, but is also confident the 31-year-old can knockout the YouTube star.
“We’re looking forward to knocking Jake out," he continued. "I feel like when you get a certain status you start feeling you’re invincible. You start thinking you can do it all. But it’s one thing to say something, and another thing to go out there and do it. So when he has to go out and do it, he’s going to realise it wasn’t as easy as he thought it was going to be. Once he wakes up.
“I just feel like we don’t have to look for a KO. I just feel like we have superior boxing skills. His boxing IQ is much greater than Jake Paul’s and I just personally feel like the knockout is going to come."
