Hasim Rahman Jr has told Jake Paul he should "give fans what they want" and reschedule their fight, despite coming in 1.6lb heavy in a ceremonial weigh-in.
Rahman Jr had originally signed to fight Paul at 200lb, the cruiserweight limit, before the New York commission insisted it was moved up to 205lb. But the bout was cancelled regardless after the fighter's team reportedly told the commission he would not come in lighter than 215lb.
And on Friday he held a weigh-in t at Gleason's Gym in New York to prove he could have made the weight limit despite commission officials believing otherwise. Rahman Jr tipped the scales at 206.6lb, which would have meant he had to sacrifice a hefty portion of his purse before again tipping the scales at 215lb on Saturday.
Mirror Fighting were among a small pool of media who attended the weigh-in. There, we were shown proof of the scale's validity after accusations Rahman Jr faked a video claiming he was 216lb weeks out from the fight.
"Stop being scared, Jake," he told Mirror Fighting after the weigh-in. "Stop being scared, look I'm right here at 206, clearly I could make 205. Give the people what they want. They want to see us fight, they want to see you in the ring with a real fighter, you've got a real fighter right here willing to make 205. Stop being scared and fight. It's that simple."
Rahman Jr also explained he was "only human" when asked why he hadn't actually made the 205lb limit for his unofficial weigh-in, which was supposed to prove it was Paul ducking the fight. He believes he could have made the extra cut had the commission given him time on the day, or accepted a fine as was contracted.
"I didn't know I wasn't going to make 205," he added. "I tried to make 205, but I'm human and humans have trial and error. This was my first time having to make weight ever.
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"I never had to make weight as an amateur, I never had to make weight in the pros, never. So for me to come 1.6lb within what the state said, I feel accomplished, I didn't meet my end goal, which was 205 but there's things about losing weight that I did not know which I do now.
"So next time, if he dares to sign anything or to stage a fight with me, it's going to be real ugly for him because I'll make it even better and even faster next time. The original date for this fight was August 13 [when it was Paul vs Tommy Fury ], they moved it forward for whatever reason.
"Had the fight been next Saturday, I probably would have made 200! It's just unfair that he pulled the plug like that, he straight just cancelled the fight. He tried to blame it on his manager, I thought Jake Paul was his own boss? I thought he was on his big money stuff, clearly he's not because he answers to other people. I want to fight next week - I want to fight tomorrow! I wanted to fight Jake tomorrow but it didn't happen, I missed the weight by one pound."
