Rahman Jr is the son of the heavyweight who KNOCKED OUT Lennox Lewis

Hasim Rahman Jr is the son of the heavyweight who KNOCKED OUT Lennox Lewis bidding to become the first man to beat friend-turned-foe Jake Paul after 100 amateur fights… the pair will end their feud after being SEPARATED when sparring

• Jake Paul will face Hasim Rahman Jr after his Tommy Fury fight collapsed  
• Rahman Jr is the son of the heavyweight who once knocked out Lennox Lewis  
• He has fought more than 100 times as an amateur and will be a big test for Paul 

It has a Rocky movie feel to it – the son of a famous former fighter rising up to emulate his father and make a name for himself. Jake Paul is not the most glamorous name Hasim Rahman Jr could have fought, but it has certainly put him in the spotlight.

The 31-year-old is not a name too many people will be familiar with. His dad – Hasim Rahman – was a former world champion heavyweight fighter who stunned the world by stopping Lennox Lewis, handing the Brit just his second defeat in 2001. 

‘The Lion’ got immediate revenge though, handing Rahman a knockout defeat of his own in the rematch later on that year. He then took on Evander Holyfield to seize another world title but lost on a technical decision after being hurt by a headbutt.

His last shot at claiming a belt came in 2008 when he challenged Wladimir Klitschko, though the Ukrainian showed his power and finesse to knock Rahman out in the seventh round. He hung up his gloves after his losing final fight in 2014.

Rahman’s son is now taking up his father’s mantle looking to write his own chapter – starting with what he hopes will be a statement win over Paul after Tommy Fury pulled out of their Madison Square Garden bout on August 6.

Hasim Rahman Jr (C) is set to take on old sparring partner Jake Paul (R) on August 6

He is the son of Hasim Rahman (R) who once knocked out Lennox Lewis back in 2001

His dad was only a world champion for a matter of months but there will still be pressure on his shoulders as he looks to follow in his footsteps.

Rahman Jr – who fights out of his birth place Baltimore – has made it clear he is not undertaking his boxing career to make up the numbers and sees himself as a future world champion.

‘My dad has my back, 100 per cent,’ he told Sky Sports in 2020. 

‘He feels like we could be moving a little bit faster, but we’re taking the necessary steps to get to a world title at the end of the day.’

Already a storied amateur fighter with more than 100 bouts on his record, Rahman Jr has made a solid start to life as a heavyweight – winning his first 12 fights before he was handed a KO loss in his last match-up against James McKenzie Morrison in April.

Rahman Jr knows more about Jake Paul than most fighters do and the YouTuber is possibly the most ideal opponent for him having been a sparring partner of his over the years. 

Rahman Jr is hoping to write his own chapter and the Paul fight has put him in the spotlight

It might not be the case now, but the pair were friends initially after he was invited by the Paul brothers to join their training sessions at the start of 2020.

‘It first happened earlier [in 2020]. We boxed in California and that was when he was still a little green. Now he’s been working, it’s been over half a year now, and he’s got a lot better. It’s always good work with Jake. He was good work the first time I boxed him. 

When I was boxing Joey Dawejko in California, getting him ready for his last fight, the Paul brothers walk in, so Logan boxes Joey and that’s what kind of gave me the green light. ‘Okay, Joey is going to box him, I’m going to box the other guy. Let’s go’.

Rahman Jr said Paul wasn’t too impressive when he first faced him and said he ‘had heart’ but was ‘just fighting’ without any particular skill – but noticed an improvement after he faced him in the gym later on in the year when he was preparing to fight former basketball star Nate Robinson. 

‘I kind of expected the same thing that I boxed the first time – and that’s not what I got,’ he added.

‘I got somebody that had a better right hand, I had somebody that was actually stepping in with the jab. The best thing about it is – I had somebody that could control his distance.

‘The first time he couldn’t really do anything like that. He was really just fighting. I could just tell that he had heart. Now he’s using his distance better, he’s actually stepping into his jab, instead of just putting it there, and he’s throwing a good one-two. He’s definitely progressing and he’s getting a lot better.’

Rahman Jr said Paul could be successful in boxing ‘if he stays focused’, but added that becoming a world champion was ‘pushing it a bit’.  

‘Jake is definitely the better fighter of [himself and brother Logan] and he definitely could do a little something with boxing, if he keeps his mind to it. He’s young, he has heart, he has a great team, and that’s what is going to get him to wherever it is he wants to go, if he stays focused with it.

‘When you’re getting millions of dollars inside your first 10 fights, it’s kind of hard to get motivated for those fights against guys that have been doing this for 25 years.

‘He’ll have some entertaining fights, he’s an entertaining guy, but I don’t know about world level. When it comes to world level fighting, now you’re pushing it a little bit.’

Those words would be the start of tensions arising between the pair.

Rahman Jr and Paul have a heated past after needing to be separated in a sparring session 

Footage has been released of the two having to be separated and exchanging tense words after a disagreement during one of their sparring sessions. 

After they had finished one of their sesions, Rahman Jr is seen in the corner of the ring yelling at Paul after the YouTuber said to him: ‘I know when someone’s up to something’. 

‘You want to talk s*** to a pro athlete?’ Rahman Jr hit back. ‘I’m gonna knock your a** out. That’s what I’m gonna do.’

Paul then says ‘you started the talking’, before Rahman Jr furious barges his way over to his fellow American, who screams: ‘I just want to know – who’s the b**** now? Because I was a b**** a minute ago. What’s up?’

Paul continues to wind him up, saying ‘take the gloves off’, before he starts to dance around the ring. The clip ends with Rahman Jr saying: ‘I’m gonna say this one time real nice. Get that camera out of my face bro.’ 

And Paul admits that heated moment was one of his inspirations for wanting to take this fight, despite Rahman Jr possessing much more experience than him and showing him the ropes of boxing.

Rahman Jr was infuriated after he accused Paul of ‘talking s**t’ about him during the session

Writing on Instagram to confirm the contest, he wrote: ‘I’ve wanted this fight ever since Hasim ran his big mouth to me two years ago in the gym.

‘My brother and manager didn’t want me to take this fight. They said it was too much risk. The New York state athletic commission didn’t want to approve this fight because they said Hasim had too much experience for me.

‘He has over 100 amateur fights. 10x more than Tommy… but I’m built different. I’m psychotic. CHAOTIC. PROBLEMATIC.

‘But ‘he’s a heavyweight’ they said. It don’t matter to me, I’m the fighting flea, they can’t hit me… I’m slippery like butter and with speed like no other. My power is unique and my style is sleek.

‘I’ve made the toughest men weak. I’m not afraid of any man or what ‘can’ happen. No boxer has taken this big of a risk this early in their career.

‘They don’t have a heart, they don’t have my soul, they don’t have my drive, and they definitely don’t have my team.’ 

There has been great interest in the fighters Jake Paul faces – particularly as many fans tune in waiting to see if there is anyone who will give the 25-year-old a wake up call and knock him out following a stunning run of five straight victories – four of which have come by knockout.

He was tipped to lose to former UFC star Tyron Woodley before beating him twice – once on points and the seond a crushing knockout to make a real statement that he should be taken seriously. 

Paul admits their exchange has made him hungry for a fight to settle their feud  

However, the unlikely rise of Paul has led to many unfounded allegations from fans that he is ‘paying fighters off’ to lose intentionally.

And Rahman was forced to bat away any suggestions that he had been asked to ‘take a dive’ in their upcoming fight, saying he had not been paid enough to fight Paul to begin with – warning his rival he was a ‘killer’ and that it would ‘get real’ in the ring.

‘Y’all sound so stupid,’ he said in an Instagram Live stream. ‘He’s barely paying me to begin with, so what the f***? I ain’t doing this for the money.

‘I’m getting the least amount any Jake opponent ever got, so what are y’all talking about “he’s paying me”? Stop it, stop it, this whole fantasy land you little Jake trolls are living in, that s*** is over with, war Rahman we on some real. Bunch of f***ing YouTuber fans, you’re about to get something so crazy. 

‘They look at my last fight, they look at sparring, they can look at whatever. When this killer gets in there, oh yeah, it’s going to get real.’

So Rahman Jr has experience on his side and the boxing upbringing and education from his famous father, against a YouTuber who stumbled upon the sport in his twenties. It points to a tough evening for Paul. 

But the unique story of this former ‘Disney Kid’ teaches us that nothing is straight forward in his career – and Rahman Jr should be wary of that.

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