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Jake Paul has claimed that there’s bad blood between him and new opponent Hasim Rahman Jr.
Paul and Rahman have sparred before in the build-up to the former’s early professional fights with fellow YouTuber AnEsonGib and basketball star Nate Robinson.
‘The Problem Child’ shared that their sparring sessions a couple of years ago were “very, very heated”, with their last meeting ending with a verbal spat. He told FightHype.com in an interview:
“Those sessions were very, very heated. The last one ended with him calling me a YouTuber, saying I’ll never go anywhere in the sport of boxing; criticizing me saying, you know like he’s gonna beat up my whole entire team. So there’s bad blood here.”
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He added that he had a hard time facing Rahman in their sparring sessions. But the YouTuber-turned-boxer believes that he has grown and improved a lot as a fighter, enough to beat Rahman inside the squared circle. He went on to say:
“This is a massive risk. Look, no boxer has ever really taken this big of a risk early in their career. Canelo’s sixth fight is against a guy who’s 2-2, Gervonta’s sixth fight is against a guy who’s 2-8. So they’re not really risking it like I am and that makes this a big fight.”
The two are set to face off on August 6 at Madison Square Garden. Paul was initially scheduled to fight Tommy Fury but the fight was called off after the Brit faced visa issues and wasn’t allowed entry into the US.
Rahman is arguably a tougher opponent for Paul than Fury with a 12-1 record with six knockouts. He fights in the heavyweight division and will have to come down to the 200-pound cruiserweight limit to face Paul.
Watch Jake Paul’s interview with FightHype.com:
Jake Paul says brother and manager told him not to take Hasim Rahman Jr. fight
Jake Paul revealed that his brother Logan and his manager both warned him against taking a fight against new opponent Hasim Rahman Jr. because it’s “too much of a risk.” But the stubborn and risk-taking YouTuber said that he will take the risk and step up to the plate.
In a lengthy Instagram post, Paul said:
“I’ve wanted this fight ever since Hashim ran his big mouth to me two years ago in the gym. 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. 10 times more than Tommy. But I’m built different. I’m psychotic. Chaotic. Problematic.”
Check out Jake Paul’s Instagram post:
