Hasim Rahman Jr. opens up after canceled bout with Jake Paul- "My body would simply not let me do it"
Hasim Rahman Jr. has taken issue with what Jake Paul wrote on his Twitter feed in the aftermath of their boxing match falling through. Jake Paul wrote:
"First Tommy Fumbled and now Hasim Rahman Crumbled. These boxers are the most difficult people to work with and continually lack professionalism and confidence to fight me..."
On the combat-sports outlet Fighthype, Hasim Rahman said that Jake Paul's characterization of the canceled fight is untrue. First, he pointed out that he campaigns as a Bridgerweight, aka Heavyweight, and that Paul's team had known his weight since he was first called upon to spar with Paul for his bout with Anderson Silva.
Rahman said that in order to make weight, he would have had to lose one pound per day for 30 days, and that he couldn't do it. Rahman Jr. claimed in a social media post:
“My body simply would not let me do it.”
He also questioned his being required to weigh-in a week before the bout:
"Where in boxing do you see them canceling fights a whole week in advance? I didn’t even get my last week to get down as low as I could."
Rahman said he had agreed to forfeit his share of the purse if he didn't make weight, and fight Paul for the $5000 minimum, because he knew he could knock Paul out. He pointed out that Jake Paul claims to have beaten him in their sparring sessions when Rahman weighed almost 230 lbs. Rahman declared:
"So if you beat me up while I was 230 lbs, what’s the problem with fighting me when I’m 215 lbs? What’s the problem fighting me at 210 lbs?"
Hasim Rahman's proof that Paul didn't want to fight
Rahman claimed that Paul's camp knew that he had a replacement boxer ready to fight: Muhsin Cason, who campaigns at Cruiserweight, and who wouldn't have had to cut any weight to fulfill the terms of the contract. He said:
"It’s clearly them not wanting to fight. It’s not me pulling out of the fight. The only thing that I can conclude is that they’re scared."
Rahman, while answering a fan on Twitter, said that Jake Paul ducked the back-up cruiserweight too:
Correct twitter.com/conseyc/status…
Rahman said that Jake Paul wanted him to lose 30 pounds in less than a month so that Paul could fight a weakened boxer, and that he wouldn't allow that to happen.
"So, y’all blame your boy Jake Paul for this fight not happening...he don’t wanna do it cuz he don’t want a real, competitive fight. He wanted me to be a shell of myself when we got in there."
Here's one of Jake Paul's Instagram posts: