The Showtime Pay-Per-View event between Jake Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr is in jeopardy.
‘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 the fight was officially cancelled last week and Paul named Rahman Jr, the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman Sr as his new opponent.
Momentum started to build when sparring footage was ‘leaked’ showing Paul landing a heavy shot on Rahman and the two getting into a furious altercation.
Shockingly, Paul is now saying the fight against his new opponent ‘might not even happen’ as Rahman tries to renegotiate his contract.
Speaking on the MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani, the American said:
“Some exclusive news for you Ariel.”
“Hasim Rahman Jr right now is trying to renegotiate his contract.”
“We signed a contract last week for 10 times more than he’s ever been paid for any of his fights and now, boom, fast forward one week and he’s trying to suck more money out of the fight.”
He went on to say that the fight is now in danger of falling through:
“He’s trying to do anything he can to claw and make money, because I think he realises the consequences of what might happen.”
“I think he’s scared to fight me. I think a lot of these guys are excited by the money at first but when it actually comes time to start fighting and getting into camp they all chicken out.”
“Who knows if this fight is even going to happen at this point because we’re not going to pay him more money, he’s not worth it.”
The YouTuber then stated that he had originally wanted Nate Diaz to step in:
“I’d hoped that Nate Diaz could get out of his [UFC] contract because I believe Nate Diaz will actually fight me.”
“He isn’t afraid like most of these professional boxers.”
Asked once more if there was a chance the fight with Rahman Jr doesn’t happen, he simply replied:
“Yeah, 100%.”