Jake Paul has accused Hasim Rahman Jr of running scared after demanding their fight be held at a weight limit of 215lb.
Paul was due face his first professional boxer in the shape of the son of a legend in New York next weekend but the fight card has been shelved at a week's notice. It is the second blow to Paul this summer after his origianl opponent Tommy Fury was forced out when he was unable to travel to America.
Paul claims Rahman Jr made no effort to cut from 216lb to the 200lb cruiserweight limit before asking for the fight to be made at 205lb instead. Paul agreed but was then informed Rahman had no intention of cutting below his current weight and the YouTube star pulled the plug.
And in a video released on social media, Paul said: "Hasim Rahman Jr has pulled out of the fight. This is not a joke, I am devastated, I cannot f***ing believe this; we just found out this news. This is another case of a professional boxer, just like Tommy Fury, being scared to fight me.
"It is as clear as day that these guys have been so unprofessional to work with, looking for any excuse to suck more money out of this event, to coerce us into doing things and I knew from the jump that this guy didn't want to get in the ring with me. Here's what happened; long story short. He signed a contract to fight me at 200lb and was going to cut the weight. This is not a big cut for him; he's a big guy with a ton of weight to lose. He sent a video to the commission the first time he weighed in at 216lb.
"The commission wanted to track his weight cut to make sure he was doing it in a healthy way. Three weeks later the commission asked him for an update on his weight, he sent a video showing him weighing 215lb meaning he had lost one pound in three weeks. The commission said he wasn't cutting the weight properly and they were going to change the weight to 205lb.
Should Jake Paul have fought Hasim Rahman Jr at 215lb? Let us know in the comments section below
"My team called me and said, "They want to change the weight to 205lb, that's a big difference, you normally fight at 190lb, do you want to do the fight still?". I said, 'Let's do it, he already had a weight advantage, a height advantage and a reach advantage but I know I can still beat his a** at 205lb'.
"We moved forward and today, out of nowhere, his team called and said, 'Hasim is not going lower than 215lb, if the fight's not at 2015lb then we're pulling out'. My manager goes, F*** you guys, we already agreed to five pounds, he's a big guy, losing 10lb... everyone knows in the sport of boxing that is an easy weight cut; UFC champions cut 25lb overnight to make weight, a 10lb weight cut for a heavyweight is nothing'.
'They said if it's not at 215lb then we're out; the biggest pay day of his life times 10 and he's fumbling it. For what? Because he knows he's going to get knocked out by me. The pressure starts to set in and it's exactly what happens with all these guys. I'm sick of it, I'm devastated and I apologise to everyone on the undercard. This is absurd but there's nothing I can do about it; I apologise to the fans and I'll be back at some point."
