Tommy Fury is now officially out of his bout with Jake Paul, again! The August 6th PPV end of summer of event, broadcast by Showtime PPV, now will see the son of a former heavyweight world champion Hasim Rahman, Hasim Rahman Jr. step in. As a very slow summer sports schedule that this summer feels slower than usual probably since this is the first year in two years in which we have started to go back to “normal” after the COVID-19 pandemic.

The bout will take place on Saturday, August 6 live on SHOWTIME PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) from Madison Square Garden in New York City in a cruiserweight bout scheduled for eight rounds with tickets on sale July 12 at 1 p.m. ET at www.msg.com. 

Are the two strangers? Not at all, as Rahman sparred with Paul very early in Paul’s career for his first two professional fights.

So what should you know about Rahman Jr.?

Let’s begin with pedigree. Rahman Jr.’s accolades do not leap off the page, but he has been around some of the best trainers as he trained at The Kronk Gym with Emmanuel Stewart during an impressionable time in his life. At a time, Rahman Jr. was in the Mayweather Boxing Gym, he would later sue Floyd Mayweather.

Rahman Jr. after the Mayweather incident disappeared to most. Rahman Jr. was a guy who was in the gym, but not a mainstay on traditional television programming. In his last fight, despite an amateur pedigree, he was stopped by the lesser-known of Tommy Morrison’s sons, James McKenzie Morrison, who stopped him in the fifth round and had won every round prior on all three of the judges’ scorecards. It was a damning loss, one that probably set in motion the opportunity of a lifetime. Prior to his loss with Morrison, Rahman Jr. has a majority decision win over Mario Rodriguez Juarez, two fights prior, one that makes me question what that fight might have looked like.

Rahman Jr has been stuck between a rock-and-a-hard place looking for a spot at cruiserweight, bridgerweight, and sometimes heavyweight – as Rahman has been trying to find a place forge his own name and create his own financial riches. Obviously, his father Hasim Rahman famously knocked out Lennox Lewis, and became a legend overnight. Rahman Jr., has been the son of the former heavyweight his whole life, and this is his chance to emerge from that shadow.

Enter Jake Paul, who gave him this chance.

The big thing is Rahman Jr. is a life-long boxer, but his time spent in the sport, hasn’t always translated to success, and against Jake Paul, he will forever be defined as a fighter by this one fight.

Now you might ask the next pressing question…why is Rahman Jr. fighting on PPV?

Well, Jake Paul could box a fire hydrant and his sheer popularity will make it worthy of a stand-alone price point. Questions would arise around has Paul faced something nearly as durable as a fire hydrant, what might happen if the fire hydrant spat out water, could a momentary dazing of the star-social media influencer turned boxer turn the tides on him. Paul has the power to make anything interesting, so Rahman is the latest to be thrust in this position from Paul’s popularity.

This is not a fight or a price point set based on accolades, it is based on the entertainment value of Paul, one of the most powerful influencers in the world, and the intrigue of how he does against a life-long boxer. Rahman Jr. presents the element of authenticity as at one point, and even still Rahman Jr. looks to make his lifetime income from boxing, prior to this, Paul has exclusively fought fighters coming from other sports, and other entertainment ventures to face him. Mostly former champions in MMA, as well as NBA player and YouTube.

That being said, Paul is facing as good, if not better competition than most boxers at this point in his career, but because the microscope is so much bigger on him, as well as being a part of pay-per-view events, criticism will always fall rather than praise.

Why?

Success merits more ill-will in the entertainment industry as the loudest voices are often the meanest, and most unhelpful.

The hard part for many boxing fans to fathom is, Jake Paul is as relevant as any boxer, and despite not having the skill of a Terence Crawford or Errol Spence Jr., people are just as interested in his journey. This is not unlike Butterbean, Kimbo Slice, and many others prior, but with Paul being a YouTuber, often trolling and anatagoizing people, purist seemingly are rooting and hoping he fails, based off their dissatisfaction with him being one of the marquee figures in boxing as he is one of the few fighters who can hold down a pay-per-view card all to himself. Paul views himself as a villain, yet the savior of boxing, that level complexity, sums u where the sport of boxing is in 2022.

As Canelo and Tyson Fury slowly start to fade away, Jake Paul, the winner of Errol Spence Jr. vs Terence Crawford, and Deontay Wilder appear to be the faces of the sport moving forward whether people like it or not. With the next wave looking to be Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Vergil Ortiz Jr., David Benavidez, Shakur Stevenson, and Jared “Big Baby” Anderson as hopeful pay-per-view stars.

Paul has a leg up on all on the boxers, because he is just more interesting than them. He is a celebrity before boxing, and knows how algorithms of social media platforms work, something seemingly no other fighter bothers with. Rahman Jr., is about to become one of the most googled fighters in the next few days, simply because of fighting Jake Paul, hardly any other boxers can do that.

It will be interesting to see how Paul fairs as given his pattern and trend in the sport, if he graduates to pro boxers, it will take a special draw to bring him back to fighting MMA fighters. Jake Paul continues to be one of the more interesting fighters in boxing.