Jake Paul is once again without an opponent. The social media star's latest PPV event was set to take place at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 6 against Hasim Rahman Jr. But that bout, along with the rest of the card, which was set to take place on Showtime PPV, has been canceled because of weight issues around Rahman Jr.
Showtime Sports and Most Valuable Promotions made the announcement on Saturday night.
The fight was expected to take place at the crusierweight limit of 200 pounds. However, Rahman Jr., a natural heavyweight, had never fought lighter than 211.75 pounds since turning pro in 2017. Because of that, the New York State Athletic Commission required weekly weight checks for the son of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman Sr., according to Boxing Scene.
Rahman Jr. had not shown the proper progress in weight loss as of this week, prompting NYSAC to move the contracted weight up to 205 pounds. However, according to Paul's promotion, Rahman Jr. indicated in subsequent offers that he planned to weigh in at 215 pounds at the official weigh-in and that he would pulled out of the fight unless Paul agreed to those terms.
"MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone that has conducted themselves in such a deceiving and calculated manner. Therefore, MVP is left with no choice but to cancel the Aug. 6 event," Most Valuable Promotions said in a statement. "This forced outcome impacts Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and every other fighter on this card who have trained tirelessly over the past few months for this event. The boxing community must hold Hasim Rahman Jr. liable for his lack of professionalism. There has been endless work, time, and money put into building this event and we want to thank our team, Showtime, Madison Square Garden, Holden Boxing and all of our partners for their continued support. Above everything we want to thank our fans for their commitment to the athletes and the sport of boxing."
First Tommy Fumbled and now Hasim Rahman Crumbled. These boxers are the most difficult people to work with and continually lack professionalism and confidence to fight me.
— Jake Paul (@jakepaul) July 31, 2022
I apologize to all of the of the other fighters on the card, our partners, our team and the fans. https://t.co/0q6MxqG3XJ
Paul was originally expected to fight Tommy Fury on the same date, but Fury was denied entrance into the United States when attempting to fly from England for the introductory press conference. Fury was forced to withdraw from the bout because of those visa issues.
