Hasim Rahman Jr. has been written off by several fight pundits and even MMA’s biggest promoter, UFC president Dana White.
Rahman Jr., the son of former heavyweight boxing champ Hasim Rahman, looks forward to proving them all wrong.
“I like to see the look on people’s faces afterward,” Rahman Jr. said on The MMA Hour. “Dana White’s not the only person. There’s a few people I can’t wait to see their face when I punish this kid, because they know better.
“Tim Bradley, Eddie Hearn, Dana White … they’re going to be like, ‘I knew it.’ But that’s not you said. Stand on what you said.”
White made it seem like he’d choose Kenzie Morrison, the son of former heavyweight boxing champ Tommy Morrison, over Rahman Jr. as Jake Paul’s next opponent.
When asked about the Paul vs. Rahman Jr. matchup this past Saturday, White pointed to Morrison’s knockout win over Rahman Jr. when they fought in April.
“He just got knocked out,” White scoffed. “Why wouldn’t you go after the guy that knocked him out? That’s not the business I’m in. I’m in a different business than that. I’m in the tough fight business.”
Rahman Jr. is a betting underdog in the fight and has been written off as another diminished opponent on which to build Paul’s record. Shaun Porter told FightHub.tv he wanted Rahman Jr. to win but indicated the fighter’s weight restrictions and training regiment, combined with a lack of time to prepare, stacked the deck in Paul’s favor.
Rahman Jr. understands his position when it comes to public perception about the fight.
“My last fight, I admittedly took my opponent lightly,” he said. “I didn’t think Kenzie was as good as he was. I think if I hadn’t, we would have had a different result.”
Now, it’s on Rahman Jr. to show he’s not a walkover.
“I think the work that I’ve put in and the work that I’m putting in is more than sufficient to get the job done,” he said. “I don’t think he can match me skill for skill. His only hope is that I get tired and I fatigue in some way and he lands a big punch. But I don’t think he’s going to keep standing — I’m going to put these paws on him, and I don’t think Jake’s been in this amount of pain yet.
“I feel like it’s the catapult that I needed to get to a world title.”
Rahman Jr. believes the restrictions put on him mean that Paul and his team are scared of what he might do with no cap on his weight. He accused the social media star turned boxer’s coach of pulling a fast one on him to get the fight and revealed a strict penalty for weight overages that could leave him making just $5,000 to show up for the fight.
Once a $100-a-round sparring partner of Paul, Rahman Jr. said his team is preparing him for his moment to deliver a huge upset.
“It’s going to be a massacre on Aug. 6, and I can’t wait,” he said.
