The Jake Paul saga continues – his fight against Hasim Rahman Jr has officially been cancelled.
‘The Problem Child’ was originally set to fight Tommy Fury in Madison Square Garden on August 6 but the fight was thrown into doubt when the Brit attempted to board a plane to the US for the first press conference but was denied entry.
After much back and forth on social media that fight was officially cancelled and Paul named Rahman Jr, the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman Sr, as his new opponent.
But that fight, along with the event, is now officially off. Through his promotional company “Most Valuable Promotions”, Paul released a statement about the cancellation insisting Rahman’s weight was the reason the bout has been called off:
“Since weighing in at 216 pounds on July 7, Rahman and his camp have offered assurance after assurance publicly and privately that he was on track to make weight at the weigh-in on Aug. 5, going as far as to provide a letter signed by a recognized nutritionist that his weight cut was progressing without issue per New York State Athletic Commission’s required weekly weight checks. In the last 48 hours, it has become clear that these assurances were not made in good faith.”
“On Friday, Rahman submitted a weight check to the New York State Athletic Commission that demonstrated he had lost less than one pound since originally signing to take the fight 24 days prior. This prompted the commission to declare that it would not sanction the fight at less than 205 pounds.”
#PaulRahman has been cancelled. Refunds for all ticket and PPV purchases will be provided. Full statement below. pic.twitter.com/thnjyjUEMT
— Most Valuable Promotions (@MostVpromotions) July 31, 2022
The brash American then took to his personal social media accounts to claim that Rahman, like Tommy Fury, was scared to face him in the ring:
“First Tommy Fury fumbled and now Hasim Rahman crumbled.”
Rahman Jr immediately hit back claiming Paul was to blame:
“Jake and his “team” cancelled this fight, not me! The fight isn’t happening on their accord not MINE!”
The August 6th pay-per-view event at Madison Square Garden was also set to feature women’s star Amanda Serrano defending her title against Brenda Carabajal – it’s currently unclear if that fight will be rescheduled.