Jake Paul has been accused of being selective with the footage he released of his sparring sessions with Hasim Rahman Jr.
The son-of-a-legend's description of the YouTuber's set-up is reminiscent of Conor McGregor's infamous sessions with Paulie Malignaggi. Former two-weight UFC champion McGregor sparred Malignaggi in the lead up to his illustrious 'money fight' against Floyd Mayweather in 2017, in which McGregor went on to lose by stoppage.
A 20-second video surfaced of McGregor dropping Malignaggi twice, but the full video of their sparring session was never released. The rivals' feud still lingers, as Malignaggi claimed McGregor would be "light work" for YouTube star Paul earlier this year. McGregor replied with a picture of Malignaggi on the canvas from their spar with the caption: "I left you like a little seesaw."
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Malignaggi has long called for the full sparring video to be released and insists that he was pushed down instead of knocked down. "People say to me, 'You're embarrassed he knocked you down' but he didn't knock s*** down," Malignaggi said. "He didn't embarrass me. People wish so badly they could see the full video and be right, but you're never going to get the full video."
Rahman sparred Paul shortly after he won his professional debut against fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib in January 2020. Paul released footage that showed Rahman being irate with him after their spar and Rahman's comments about the clip echoes those of Malignaggi's about McGregor.
"I knew how they would dress it up and how they would make it look, that's exactly what they did," Rahman said. "They showed him landing the good shots and then the aftermath with me being upset. I was upset at the disrespect he was showing, the fact he was jumping on top of the ropes and talking all the trash when he wasn't doing anything.
"He landed a couple of good shots but I was there handicapped so that's what I was trying to let them know. I couldn't switch southpaw and couldn't go 100 per cent, if I did they told me i wouldn't get paid so this is assailing and making a mockery of the sport. That's where that anger came from, it didn't come from what had happened in the sparring."
