Jake Paul has been sparring former light-heavyweight world champion Chad Dawson to prepare for his next fight.
Paul was training for a meeting with bitter rival Tommy Fury with the pair having signed contracts to meet on August 6 at Madison Square Garden. However Paul will now instead face replacement opponent Hasim Rahman Jr, after Fury was prevented from travelling to the US for the clash.
The 25-year-old has been working with coach BJ Flores at his Puerto Rico gym in preparation for the event, which will likely be the sternest examination of his ring credentials. Most recently Paul has been spotted working alongside former three-time light-heavyweight champion Dawson.
Dawson hasn't boxed since facing and defeating Denis Grachev in Connecticut back in April 2019. During the height of his career, the 40-year-old became world champion on three occasions sharing the ring with the likes of Bernard Hopkins, Jean Pascal and Tomasz Adamek.
He was set to return this year in the second Triad Combat event ran by celebrity boxing promotion Triller against retired MMA star Vitor Belfort but the fight was cancelled. Now he has travelled over to Paul's gym to work with the YouTube star who is set to headline the iconic New York venue next month.
Paul has also worked with other professional fighters from the sport in sparring including his upcoming opponent who was identified as Fury's replacement. The YouTuber has also claimed that former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham was left "blown away" by his boxing skills when the pair shared a sparring session before his victory over Ben Askren.
"I like to go harder in sparring to prepare myself for fight night," Paul said when assessing his sparring with Cunningham on the Flagrant podcast. "When I sparred with former world champion Steve Cunningham, three-time world champion and this was a year ago. He is bigger than me and taller than me and knocked down Tyson Fury.
"He still did a great job, shout to Steve he was the first real world champion I sparred against and I did phenomenal. He was blown away and he said 'you are going to be alright'. I only spar people who are better than the person I am going to fight and I have never been knocked down once in sparring. And this is the confidence I have myself to talk this s***."
Paul's reputation in the sport is continuing to grow with the likes of former cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew and promoter Eddie Hearn handing him credit for his recent choice of opponent. A win for the YouTube star could see him return to fighting a whole host of UFC-based opponents including Nate Diaz and Anderson Silva who have both been linked with stepping into the ring with Paul .
