The promotion of the boxing fight between Jake Paul and Hasim Rahman Jr., scheduled for August 6 at Madison Square Garden, could not have started better: the press conference was full of insults, threats and slogans between one and the other. Among the highlights was the confession made by the Youtuber's rival about how he was hindered by being forced to comply with a rehydration clause.
“I’m tellin’ the truth, because you leavin’ it out. … . Let the people know. You always talkin’ about, ‘Oh, he’s bigger than me. Oh, he’s a heavyweight,’ and all this stuff and all that. That’s cut, because we coming to cruiserweight.... But I'm not here to negotiate, I'm here to end this facade that he's calling a career.", stated the son of the former Unified World Heavyweight Champion Hasim The Rock Rahman.
"This 100 per cent (a better fight than the Tommy Fury one) this is what I do, I take hard challenges and challenge myself more and more with every fight and give the fans what they want. People say take on a real boxer? Here we go, I'm proving to the kids out there if you set your mind to something then you will win", said Jake Paul.
What is a rehydration clause in boxing?
As in any sport, in boxing there are agreements that must be followed and rules that must be respected. To ensure equal conditions and chances of winning in the ring in a fight, there is a stipulated maximum weight that both contenders cannot exceed on the day of the weigh-in, usually held the day before the fight.
To reach that agreed tonnage, boxers go through many sacrifices such as not eating enough or even not drinking water so that it does not take extra grams to your body. However, once the weigh-in is over, it is natural that every boxer eats and drinks what he could not during his training stage, so he usually goes to the ring with many pounds over the ones he weighed in at the weigh-in.
This is where the rehydration clause maneuver comes in, which was used by Jake Paul in his fight against Hasim Rahman Jr.: it stipulates that the fighter to whom it is applied, cannot freely gain weight after the weigh-in, ensuring that he does not arrive much heavier than his opponent by establishing a maximum weight at which to be on the day of the fight.
Canelo Alvarez and his use of the rehydration clause
Although it is considered controversial, for preventing a full recovery of one of the opponents facing each other in a professional boxing fight, the rehydration clause is not illegal. In fact, its most recent exponent is Mexican champion Saul Canelo Alvarez.
The Guadalajara native imposed this rehydration clause, according to various sources such as Izquierdazo, in his fights against Rocky Fielding, Daniel Jacobs and, above all, Sergey Kovalev. All of them, much bigger individuals than Canelo, especially Kovalev, whom he faced at 175 pounds in November 2019, a category in which the Mexican had never fought before.
What was the rehydration clause for Hasim Rahman Jr. imposed by Jake Paul?
Hasim Rahman Jr. being a natural heavyweight, like his father, there is a considerable difference for Jake Paul, who in his 5 fights as a professional boxer has fought in the Cruiserweight division, that is, less than 200 pounds.
The lightest version of Rahman Jr. was in August 2021, according to Box Rec, when he faced Nathan Bedwell and stopped the scales at 220 pounds. While when he had the most tonnage was in April 2017, in his second fight: he faced Demetrius Shaw at 278 pounds.
Thus, the contract signed by Hasim Rahman Jr. to face Jake Paul establishes that the 8-round-fight on August 6 will take place in the Cruiserweight division, that is to say at 200 pounds, a first big obstacle for the Gold Blooded. However, on the day of the fight, he cannot weigh more than 215 pounds at the second weigh-in, scheduled for the morning of August 6, according to Boxing Scene.
