Jake Paul (5-0) surprised many when he selected Hasim Rahman Jr. (12-1) to replace Tommy Fury as his opponent for his August 6th Showtime distributed pay-per-view showdown. The fight will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York. 

A replacement fighter was needed because Fury currently isn’t allowed by the United States government to enter the country. 

Paul’s co-trainer, BJ Flores, is well aware of how dangerous an opponent Rahman is. In fact, he said that state officials in New York warned Paul of the danger he will be facing. 

“The New York State athletic commission advised against it. They said Rahman was too experienced. Rahman had over 100 amateur fights and has 13 professional fights plus he’s used to fighting bigger guys.  He grew up around boxing and boxing himself in amateur tournaments,” Flores told BoxingScene.com.

Rahman grew up around boxing because he is the son of former unified heavyweight champion Hasim “Rock” Rahman.  The elder Rahman captured the IBF, IBO, and WBC heavyweight titles in 2001 when he stopped Lennox Lewis. He lost the titles 7 months later in their rematch. 

The younger Rahman lost his most recent fight in April when he was stopped in the 5th round versus James “Kenzie” Morrison in Las Vegas. Even though he lost, he was doing well in the fight up until the moment he was caught. 

Rahman is a far more of an advanced fighter than what most prospects face in their 6th professional bout. 

“Rahman was beating a 20-0 undefeated heavyweight in Kenzie Morrison 4 rounds to 0 before the stoppage. It was 40-36 on all three scorecards. This is a dangerous fight,” said Flores. 

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com. You can follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter