Jake Paul’s sparring partner thinks Hasim Rahman will be “very tough” and a “big risk” for him.
With Tommy Fury being barred from entering the US, Jake Paul will now be fighting the 12-1 Hasim Rahman Jr. on August 6th. According to one of Paul’s main sparring partners, the change might not be the best idea at this stage of his career.
“Hasim Rahman Jr. is very experienced. Jake is my boy, but this is very tough for him,” Anthony Taylor told Vegas Insider. “Hasim is a fighter Jake should be taking on ten fights into his career, not this early. He should be fighting Hasim when he’s 10-0, not 5-0. He’s taking five steps forward. Hasim is a much tougher fight than Tommy Fury would have been.
“Tommy has no pedigree or amateur background like Hasim does. Hasim would be the perfect fight in five fights time,” he said. “So you have to give Jake credit, he wants to prove people wrong and I think he can do it. He can outpoint this guy, he’ll prove people wrong. It’s a big risk when you talk about losing your undefeated record. If Jake loses, then that’s just one lost on his record, a lot of great fighters had losses on their record. Not everybody can be a Mayweather.”
Taylor, who is an MMA fighter and Bellator veteran, is very familiar of Paul’s skillset as he has been one of his main sparring parters in the last couple of training camps. Rahman is also a former sparring partner of Paul, with the two getting heated during a training session from two years ago.
The YouTuber in Paul is 5-0, with Rahman being billed as the first “real” pro boxer he’ll face in his career.
Rahman Jr., the son of the former heavyweight champion, lost his last fight by TKO after getting his first real step up in competition. He will be stepping in against Paul on relatively short notice.