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Second generation boxer Hasim Rahman Jr. seemed to be in good spirits ahead of his Madison Square Garden mega-fight with Youtuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul, set to take place on Saturday, August 6.
Before he worked out in front of the media in Las Vegas some ten days before the fight, he answered some questions…candidly, to say the least. When asked what his biggest concern would be during the fight, he said flatly, “There is no concern.”
The fight wasn’t even supposed to happen to begin with, as Paul was set to take on Tommy Fury, half-brother of heavyweight champion boxer Tyson Fury. However, due to a combination of visa issues and health problems, Tommy had to bow-out.
Rahman Jr. was asked by Paul to be the replacement, a move that raised eyebrows among figures in the sport and fans alike.
Although somewhat of a veteran with many amateur fights and thirteen professional bouts under his belt, Rahman Jr. is relatively unheralded and lacks the popularity and “clout” that other Paul opponents have had.
Junior is the son of former heavyweight champion, Hasim Rahman, who knocked out Lennox Lewis in 2001 to capture the IBF, IBO and WBC heavyweight titles.
However, when looked deeper, the move makes some sense for Paul.
Rahman Jr. is 31 years old and coming off of a loss to Kenzie Morrison in which he was stopped in the fifth round. Additionally, he has sparred with Paul before in an effort to get ready for a proposed fight against Anderson Silva according to him.
“Jake Paul describes the session as a heated sparring session,” he said. “I’m sitting here telling y'all that I could only use one hand with this guy, like 95% of the time.”
Despite being more experienced and the biggest fighter Paul has faced yet (6’3 and usually fights at well over 200lbs), Rahman Jr. is considered the underdog.
What seemed like normal attempts at hyping up a fight, the two have traded verbal barbs at each other recently, with Rahman Jr. saying that his goal is to “separate Paul from his consciousness.”
That said, Tuesday night the rhetoric turned up a notch.
When asked about Paul’s comments on his background and family, Rahman Jr. fired back, “His dad’s a pedophile and his brother’s in the closet.
“He’s a fraud. This isn’t a fraud sport. He’s a liar, a scammer, a fraud, a phony.”
He also doesn’t think there will be a rematch if he beats Paul.
“There will be no re-match, only retire,” alluding to the fact he believes Paul won’t have any will or want to fight again.
Whatever happens, this is arguably the biggest fight of both their careers up to this point. Rahman Jr. gets to fight as a headliner in Madison Square Garden while Paul gets a chance to fight a veteran boxer with a good record and shut up his critics, who allege he hasn’t fought a “real boxer” yet.
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