By Rory Carroll
(Reuters) – Heavyweight Hasim Rahman Jr. will replace Tommy Fury in the Aug. 6 clash against Jake Paul at Madison Square Garden after travel issues forced Fury to withdraw from the fight.
Rahman (12-1, six KOs), the son of the former boxing heavyweight champion, has a size and experience advantage over Paul (5-0), and the YouTuber-turned-boxer acknowledged that he had his work cut out for him.
“I’m literally crazy,” Paul said.
“There’s no reason why I should be taking this fight. … I want to prove to the boxing world that I’m a real dog, which I am.
“And I’m gonna go in there against this 12-1 kid who is bigger than Tommy Fury, faster than Tommy Fury — all of these things. And I’m gonna put on the performance of a lifetime and just shut everyone up.”
Paul’s business partner Nakisa Bidarian and Paul’s brother Logan both urged him not to take the fight, ESPN reported.
The Rahman announcement comes one day after Paul said Briton Fury (8-0) had missed a deadline to resolve the travel issues that prevented him from flying to the United States from London last week for a news conference.
Fury has said he does not know why he was not allowed to board the plane at Heathrow airport and that he was willing to fight Paul in a neutral country that both parties can enter.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles, editing by Ed Osmond)
