Hasim Rahman Jr - who has held talks over fighting Jake Paul on August 6 - praised the YouTube star for his skills after sparring him in 2020.
Paul remains scheduled to fight Tommy Fury at Madison Square Garden next month, but the fight is in jeopardy after Fury was refused entry to the United States. Paul has given Fury until tomorrow morning to prove he can make it to America, otherwise he will move on from the fight.
The son of a two-time world heavyweight champion, Mirror Fighting understands Rahman is Paul's first choice to replace Love Island runner-up Fury. Rahman and Paul are no strangers to each other, with the pair sparring before Paul's professional debut two years ago.
Paul went on to beat fellow YouTube star AnEsonGib in that fight and returned for another sparring session with Rahman later that year. The heavyweight, who holds a record of 12-1 and suffered his first loss in April, said Paul had drastically improved come their second meeting.
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"I kind of expected the same thing that I boxed the first time and that's not what I got," Rahman told Sky Sports. "I got somebody that had a better right hand, I had somebody that was actually stepping in with the jab. The best thing about it is - I had somebody that could control his distance."
Sparring Paul for the second time before his knockout win over Nate Robinson, Rahman said: "The first time he couldn't really do anything like that. He was really just fighting. I could just tell that he had heart. Now he's using his distance better, he's actually stepping into his jab, instead of just putting it there, and he's throwing a good one-two."
Paul's Most Valuable Promotions have recently teased his opponent change on Instagram, writing: "Let's see how fans react to Jake Paul's opponent for his sixth pro fight." Rahman has weighed as much as 269lb during his short-lived heavyweight career and would likely struggle to make the cruiserweight limit of 200lb.
Rahman credited Paul's trainer, former cruiserweight title challenger BJ Flores, for improving the YouTube star's skills. He told Pro Boxing Fans before Paul's fight with Ben Askren: "BJ has done a great job and he’s learning and he’s getting better. [The] proof is in the pudding. He even looked better from his first fight to his second fight, even though you couldn’t see much.
“Don’t sleep on Jake Paul he really trains, he really takes it serious and I think he’s going to keep knocking these guys out. If they keep letting him pick his opponents, he’s going to keep knocking them out."
Rahman's brother Sharif, who is also a professional boxer, has added fuel to the fire by implying that Rahman will serve as Paul's replacement opponent. Without naming his brother, he stated that Paul's new opponent will be a heavyweight who is just over 30 years of age, with Rahman being 31.
