Jake Paul has agreed to take on Hasim Rahman Jr in a fight taking place on August 6, in place of his original opponent Tommy Fury after the Brit pulled out due to visa issues.
Rahman Jr is the son of the former heavyweight world champion of the same name and will become the first full-time boxer to face Paul in a fight so far in his career. The American YouTuber was set for a step up against Fury and could well face an even more difficult opponent in the form of Rahman, who has a record of 12-1.
Paul's brother Logan advised his younger sibling not to take on the fight against the 31-year-old due to his quality, but a win against Rahman Jr could well propel his career to the next level after five wins and no defeats so far. The fight is proposed to be taking place at cruiserweight, but with Rahman Jr having weighed as much as 269lbs during his career there has been controversy over the weigh-in.
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Fight Freaks Unite are reporting that the fighters will be contractually required to weigh no more than 214lbs at 12pm on the day of the fight. Paul, who has sparred with Rahman Jr in the past, regularly weighs in at 190lbs for his fights. The 'private weigh-in' has been included as part of the fight terms.
Speaking about their previous sparring sessions, Paul said that he has wanted this fight ever since a tense sparring session in the past. He said: "I’ve wanted this fight ever since Hasim ran his big mouth to me two years ago in the gym.".
"My brother and manager didn’t want me to take this fight. They said it was too much risk. The New York State Athletic Commission didn’t want to approve this fight because they said Hasim had too much experience for me. He has over 100 amateur fights. 10x more than Tommy, but I'm built different."
