Jake Paul has picked Hasim Rahman Jr, the son of former world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, as his replacement for Tommy Fury providing the Brit is unable to make their fight. Fury and Paul are set to face each other on August 6 at Madison Square Garden, New York but the fight has hit a snag after Fury was denied entry into the United States.
Since the announcement, Paul has taken to Twitter to set a deadline for Fury to sort out his travel issues. Writing on Sunday, the YouTube Star told Fury that if he doesn’t visit the embassy by Wednesday morning then he will pull the plug on the fight and seek alternative opponents.
According to Paul, he already has three replacements waiting in the wings and now it’s been claimed that one of those fighters is Rahman Jr. Mirror Fighting reports that Rahman is viewed as Paul’s first choice to replace Tyson Fury’s brother.
The new name is reportedly being lined up alongside an official confirmation that the Fury fight is off, in the hope of keeping excitement alive for the pay-per-view event. Rahman Jr is 12-1 as a professional and boxes as a heavyweight in the paid ranks. It is presently unclear what weight the fight would be agreed at with Paul operating around the cruiserweight limit in his previous fights.
He said: “I kind of expected the same thing that I boxed the first time and that’s not what I got. 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.
“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.”