Heavyweight Hasim Rahman Jr, who was scheduled to fight Jake Paul this year, has called the influencer-turned boxer out on his antics both in and out of the boxing ring.
Rahman was supposed to fight Paul on August 6th, however the show was cancelled when the former was unable to make the 205lb weight limit. The 12-1 fighter, who is the son of a legend in the sport of the same name, would have been the first professional boxer that Paul had faced.
Now, in an interview with Sky Sports, Rahman has said ‘The Problem Child’ is not playing by the rules and is using out-of-the-ring tactics, such as weight-draining his opponents, to give him the edge when he steps inside of the squared circle.
“He wanted me to come down to 200lbs, the commission forced him to give me an extra five pounds and it wouldn’t be safe in my camp’s eyes or my eyes to go as low as they wanted me to go. They wouldn’t budge. They never really wanted to make a fight, or at least a fair fight.”
“I don’t think he really wants to be in the ring with me, not in a fair competitive fight. I’ve definitely moved on, I’m not holding on to that. Jake, what he’s done, it has no reflection on his boxing skills. It has a reflection on his media persona. He’s using boxing, using and abusing,”
“It has absolutely nothing to do with his skills. He didn’t get this far because he’s at the skill level of a Shakur Stevenson or the skill level of Devin Haney, he got this far because there are lot of people that want to see him fight. That’s it.”
Although still interested in fighting Jake Paul, despite claiming to have moved on, Rahman has little faith that the bout will ever happen. Although he did hint that he could instead take on Jake Paul’s brother, Logan, in the near future.
“I don’t think he’s going to grow [courage] overnight. His brother’s been talking so maybe you’ll see me and Logan before you see me and Jake,”
Whilst he is yet to take on a professional boxer, Jake Paul continues to build up his résume by improving opponents. His latest fight with Anderson Silva was arguably his toughest to date, and that victory has moved him up to #29 in the United States cruiserweight BoxRec rankings. Fans of the sport once again call for him to face a professional boxer now, with fights against Brits Tommy Fury and Viddal Riley rumoured.