Jake Paul has included a 'private' weigh-in on the terms of his deal to fight Hasim Rahman Jr because of the disparity in weight between the pair.
YouTube star turned boxer Paul was scheduled to fight bitter rival Tommy Fury on August 6 at Madison Square Garden, but Rahman stepped in when the Brit was unable to produce proof that he could travel to the US after being turned away whist on route to a press conference for the fight.
Rahman, the son of a former heavyweight champion, is 12-1 as a professional with all of his fights taking place at heavyweight. The 31-year-old has weighed as much as 269lb during his career but last weighed-in at 224lb for his stoppage loss to James Morrison, who is the son of former heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison.
Rahman will need to lose even more weight to make the cruiserweight limit to face Paul, with Fight Freaks Unite reporting that the pair will be contractually required to weigh no more than 214lbs at 12pm on the day of the fight.
Paul, who has weighed 190lb for most of professional bouts, has sparred Rahman twice before. 'The Problem Child' recently published footage of the pair having a row after one of their sessions, writing: "I’ve wanted this fight ever since Hasim ran his big mouth to me two years ago in the gym.
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"My brother and manager didn’t want me to take this fight. They said it was too much risk. The New York State Athletic Commission didn’t want to approve this fight because they said Hasim had too much experience for me. He has over 100 amateur fights. 10x more than Tommy, but I'm built different."
Rahman has insisted that he isn't being paid to lose against Paul and he will become the first man to defeat the 25-year-old. Paul is undefeated in five professional fights and has beaten former UFC champion Tyron Woodley twice, Bellator champion Ben Askren, basketball star Nate Robinson and fellow YouTube star AnEsonGib thus far.
“ Jake Paul and I sparred two years ago and let’s just say I took it easy on the kid,” said Rahman Jr. “August 6 is not a sparring session. I am going to separate him from God’s conscience. My name is Hasim Rahman Jr., and I am going to knock out Jake Paul. Period.”
