Hasim Rahman Jr. accused Team Jake Paul of using underhanded tactics – and outright bullying – to get him to sign for their Aug. 6 pay-per-view headliner at Madison Square Garden.
Monday’s The MMA Hour , Rahman Jr. claimed that Paul’s team had misled him, making it appear like they were interested in hiring him as a sparring partner. Rahman shared information about his training and weight with Team Paul. He said that he was open to a fight with Paul.
“It wasn’t very honest,” Rahman Jr. stated. “His coach called me, and he’s asking me how much I weigh, how I’m feeling about my last fight, what I’ve been doing in the gym, how much I’ve been sparring … but he was asking me under the pretense that I would come in and spar Jake as a southpaw for the Anderson Silva [fight].
“I’m thinking they’re about to call me back and get me on a flight to Puerto Rico to help them out for Anderson. A half hour later I receive a phone call from them stating that they are interested in fighting. So all those questions were really trying to line me up to fight me. It wasn’t a sparring match .”
Rahman Jr., the son of former heavyweight boxing champ Hasim Rahman, weighed his options and immediately saw the opportunity in facing Paul, a two-time sparring partner and a popular target among experienced boxers who want to “expose” the social media star turned pugilist. He said he nevertheless asked for a few hours to weigh his options – and instead was given an ultimatum.
“Please respond in 45 time, prior to the end of the hour or your offer will be cancelled.” He said about Team Paul’s response.
Rahman Jr., who is 12-1 in the ring, conceded the money to fight Paul on Aug. 6 was more than he’d ever made in professional boxing. It also had some heavy strings around his weight.
The 31-year-old boxer said the contract demands 25 percent of his purse for every pound he is over. Save for a four-ounce allowance on the 200 pounds he is required to make at the official weigh-ins and a 214-pound limit at noon on fight night, he said a four-pound overage could leave him making only $5,000. (He did not specify whether he is also entitled to a “win” bonus or any other type of compensation. )
” They are so scared they put such pressure on me that I have to drop 25 per pound. Rahman Jr. said.
Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions co-founder, Nakisa Bidarian, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Rahman Jr.’s claim.
Rahman Jr. believed the sparring partner game was “dirty,” but added that “you can’t put anything beyond anybody in this industry.”
In response to the unflattering images Paul posted of Rahman Jr. sparring, the boxer claimed he was just trying to offer some advice to the YouTuber before it was obvious that he was being made to appear bad.
“I was going to tell him, ‘In boxing, this don’t count – the sparring don’t count,'” Rahman Jr. said. “But to Jake, sparring is like a fight, because obviously he has no amateur experience. He might be thinking that if he is doing well against a pro, then he can do it to a man .’
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” I was trying to be humble and say that I am a bit handicapped. … He was going to cut it up like he did. That’s why I was so upset. It was just his disrespect for the sport and for what we were doing.
“I came to give you a look. I wasn’t here to beat you or see if your level is comparable to mine. Your coaches actually asked me not to knock you out. He said that knocking him out will not result in you getting paid .”
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Paul was given credit by Rahman Jr. for being a hard fighter who had fought in the boxing ring. Others, he said, quickly bowed out after their first punch to the mouth, but the influencer took his licks and kept coming.
Now, seeing the other side of a Jake Paul negotiation, Rahman Jr. is intent on humbling his opponent the old-fashioned way. In sparring, he rarely used his left hand and spent 30 seconds of the final round in southpaw stance – at the request of Paul’s coaches, whom he said pleaded “he’s an asshole, he’s going to to this – just don’t knock him out.”
” I will hit him as hard and as often as possible, with both of my hands,” Rahman Jr. said. … As motivation .”
, I use anything against me.
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