The highly-anticipated fight between Jake Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr. has been canceled due to a weight issue with Rahman. The news was announced by Paul’s Most Valuable Promotions (MVP) on Saturday.
“MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone that has conducted themselves in such a deceiving and calculated manner,” the statement read. “Therefore, MVP is left with no choice but to cancel the August 6th event. 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.”
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Scheduled for August 6, the fight was to be held at New York’s Madison Square Garden with Amanda Serrano and Brenda Carabajal booked as the co-main event of the card.
MVP states that Rahman had signed a contract to weigh in at 200 pounds, but this was later renegotiated to 205 pounds. Finally, MVP’s statement claims that Rahman’s camp threatened to withdraw if the weight was not brought up to 215 pounds.
“Upon receiving this new contract Saturday morning, Rahman’s camp indicated for the very first time that he planned to weigh 215 lbs. at the official weigh-in and would not agree to weigh-in at 205 pounds and informing Most Valuable Promotions that they are pulling out of the fight unless the fight was agreed to at 215 pounds.”
[Via]