Most Valuable Promotions, which Paul co-owns with business partner Nakisa Bidarian, made the announcement Saturday after a report by Boxingscene.com initially said the bout would be listed as a 205-pound bout and later reported its cancellation. MVP released a statement regarding the cancellation: “On July 5, Hasim Rahman Jr. signed a fight deal to fight Jake Paul on August 6 at Madison Square Garden at a maximum weight of 200 pounds. At the time of signing, Rahman provided evidence of his weight to reassure Most Valuable Promotions and the New York State Athletic Commission that he would not lose more than 10 percent of his body weight in the four weeks leading up to the fight . “Since weighing in at 216 pounds on July 7, Rahman and his camp have offered assurance after assurance publicly and privately that he was on track to make weight at the August 5 weigh-in, going so far as to provide a signed letter from a recognized nutritionist that his weight loss was progressing smoothly, according to the New York State Athletic Commission’s required weekly weight checks. Over the past 48 hours, it has become clear that these assurances were not made in good faith.” Initial requests for comment to Rahman Jr.’s representatives were not returned. According to Paul’s team, the 31-year-old fighter had lost almost no weight, and the team said the former heavyweight champion’s son Hashim Rahman later asked for the fight to take place at a completely different weight – otherwise he would no longer compete. This eventually forced Paul to cancel the match and drop the card, which also featured Amanda Serrano in the co-main event. “On Friday, Rahman submitted a weight check to the New York State Athletic Commission that showed he had lost less than a pound since he originally signed up to take the fight 24 days earlier. This prompted the committee to state that they would not sanction the fight at less than 205 pounds. However, Jake Paul was prepared to go ahead with the fight at this new weight and a new contract was sent to Rahman’s promoter reflecting a 205lb limit, imposing severe penalties should he fail to make weight. Upon receiving that new contract Saturday morning, Rahman’s camp reported for the first time that he planned to weigh in at 215 pounds at the official weigh-in and would not agree to weigh in at 205 pounds and inform Most Valuable Promotions that they were pulling out of the fight unless the fight was agreed upon at 215 pounds. “MVP and Jake Paul will not reward someone who behaved in such a deceptive and calculated manner. Therefore, MVP has no choice but to cancel the August 6th event. This forced result affects Jake Paul, Amanda Serrano and every other fighter on this card who have trained tirelessly over the last few months for this event. The boxing community needs to hold Hasim Rahman Jr. accountable. for his lack of professionalism. Endless work, time and money have gone 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 all, we want to thank our fans for their commitment to the athletes and the sport of boxing.” Paul’s team added that refunds will be issued for all tickets and pay-per-views already sold for the now canceled card. It’s an unfortunate turn of events for Paul, who was originally scheduled to face Tommy Fury on August 6 until the former reality star was banned from entering the US. Multiple reports attributed the denial to the Fury family’s connection to alleged criminal Daniel Kinahan. Fury was removed from the card and replaced by Rahman, who accepted the contest after suffering a knockout loss to Kenzie Morrison in his previous outing in April. Now, the entire card has been canceled and there is no word on when Paul can fight again. After the announcement, Paul blasted Rahman for his behavior while apologizing to all the other fighters affected by the cancellation. “First Tommy Fumbled and now Hasim Rahman collapsed,” Paul tweeted. “These fighters are the most difficult people to work with and consistently lack the professionalism and confidence to fight me. I apologize to all the other fighters on the card, our partners, our team and the fans.” First Tommy Fumbled and now Hasim Rahman Crumbled. These fighters are the most difficult people to work with and constantly lack the professionalism and confidence to fight me. I apologize to all the other fighters on the card, our partners, our team and the fans. https://t.co/0q6MxqG3XJ — Jake Paul (@jakepaul) July 31, 2022 Paul later posted a video in which he explained his frustration with Rahman’s team, saying it was “clear as day” that Rahman didn’t want to fight him. “Here’s what happened, in a nutshell: He signed a contract to fight me at 200 pounds, and he was going to cut down to 200 pounds. That’s not a big cut for him. He’s a big guy with a lot of weight to lose. So he sent a video to the committee the first time he weighed 216kg. The committee wanted to monitor his weight loss to make sure he was doing so in a healthy way. Three weeks later the committee asked him for an update on his weight. He sends a video weighing 215 kg, which means that in three weeks he lost only one kg. So the commission was like, “Hey, man, you’re not cutting the weight right. We don’t want you to lose everything on the last day. We should change this fight to 205 pounds.’ “My team calls me, they say, ‘Hey man, they want to change the weight to 205 pounds, that’s a big difference, you usually compete at 190 pounds. Do you still want to do the race? I said, “No problem, let’s do it.” Two hundred and five pounds, he already has a weight advantage, all that stuff, but whatever. I know I can still beat his ass at 205 pounds. And that was it. We are moving forward. Today, out of nowhere, the team calls him and says, “Hashim is not going under 215 pounds. If the fight is not at 215 pounds, then we withdraw.’ My manager says, “F*** you guys. You don’t control this. We have already agreed on another five pounds. He’s a big guy. Losing 10 pounds, everyone in the sport of boxing knows it’s an easy weight cut. People do this. The UFC champs cut 25 pounds overnight to make weight. A 10kg weight cut for a heavyweight is nothing. This is clearly an excuse. “Okay, the match isn’t at 215, we’re out.” “The biggest payday of his life is 10 and he’s digging it. Why? Because he knows he will knock me out. The pressure starts to set in and that’s exactly what happens with all these guys. Same s*** as Tommy Fury. I’m tired of it. I’m devastated. Apologies to everyone on the undercard. Amanda Serrano, I know you’ve been working hard. Ashton Sylve, I know you’ve been working hard. This is absurd. I can’t do anything about it. I apologize to the fans and I’ll be back at some point.” MMA Fighting’s Mike Heck and Alexander K. Lee react to the cancellation, which you can watch below and on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify and Stitcher.
