Athletes - Hasim Rahman

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	Athletes - Hasim Rahman

Hasim Shariff Rahman (born November 7, 1972), is an American boxer who simultaneously held the IBF and WBC world Heavyweight Championships (by knocking out Lennox Lewis) for seven months in 2001; he was also awarded the WBC World Heavyweight Championship on November 10, 2005 (upon the retirement of titleholder Vitali Klitschko, due to recurring injuries which had caused him to postpone his April 2005 match with Rahman 4 times). His nickname is The Rock (the name comes from his last name, which is properly pronounced "rock-mahn", not "ra-mahn" as it appears). He is sponsored by eBaum's World.

Biography

Rahman grew up in Baltimore, but unlike most championship boxers, got a relatively late start in the sport. He took up boxing at age 20 and had just 10 amateur bouts before making his pro debut on December 3, 1994 at age 22.

Despite his inexperience, Rahman had obvious natural boxing skills that propelled him to 11 knockout wins in his first 12 fights. Then he took a step up in class in March 1996 with a 10-round decision win over veteran Ross Puritty and seven months later, he repeated the feat against former world champion Trevor Berbick.

In July 1997, he won the USBA regional heavyweight title, and four months later, he added another regional belt, the IBF Intercontinental heavyweight title. By the fall of 1998, he was ranked as one of the top five heavyweights in the world.

On December 19, 1998, Rahman faced fellow contender David Tua in a fight to determnine who the IBF's mandatory contender would be. Rahman apparently won most of the first eight rounds and appeared to be on his way to victory when Tua staggered him with a punch after the bell in the ninth round. Because the punch was illegal, Rahman should have been given whatever time he needed to recover, but the referee erroneously forced him to begin the 10th round after just a few minutes. Tua pounced on him immediately and won by a technical knockout.

Because of the controversial nature of the loss, Rahman's ranking did not suffer, but in November of 1999, he was knocked out by Oleg Maskaev in the eighth round of a fight he looked to be winning, and dropped out of the Ring Magazine top 10 as a result.

Rahman came back with three wins, including one in May of 2000 over Corrie Sanders for the fringe WBU heavyweight title, and moved back up in the rankings. Finally, on April 22, 2001, Rahman earned a shot at Lennox Lewis -- the consensus World Heavyweight Champion, to boxing fans -- and his unified WBC and IBF Heavyweight Titles. Lewis looked slightly out-of-shape (he had been shooting a cameo appearance in a movie just 48 hours prior, in North America), yet abundantly confident of winning.

In the fight, held at Brakpan, South Africa, Lewis and Rahman traded hard blows for five rounds before Rahman, a 14-to-1 underdog, stunned the crowd by knocking the complacent Lewis out with one punch. It was only the second loss of Lewis' career, and made Rahman only the third Muslim ever (after Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson) to hold a world heavyweight championship.

Lewis had an immediate-rematch clause (in case he lost to Hasim -- a common stipulation in title fight contracts) in the contract for his defense against Hasim, and chose to invoke it. Rahman and his new promoter, the legendary Don King, made plans to defend the titles against at least 1 other opponent first, and give Lewis his rematch later (a rather common occurrence in contemporary boxing). Lewis sued Rahman in U.S. federal court to enfore their contract. The judge sided with Lewis; so, on November 17, 2001 in Las Vegas, the two men met again. This time, Lewis landed the most devastating punch in yet another slugging match, sending Rahman down for the count in the fourth round.

Rahman's next fight took place on June 1, 2002 against former champion Evander Holyfield, as both men sought another shot at Lewis, or failing that, a chance to fight for the WBA belt that Lewis had earlier vacated. An accidental headbutt by Holyfield caused an abnormally large (almost softball-sized) swelling above Rahman's left eye. This caused the referee (after consulting with the ringside doctor) to stop the fight after just seven rounds, and send it to the judges' scorecards. Rahman lost a split decision (67-66 for, 69-64 against).

On March 29, 2003, Rahman faced Tua for a second time, and again the fight ended in controversy. The fight was ruled a draw after one judge scored it for Rahman, a second for Tua and a third had the score even. However, most observers thought Rahman won the fight, and in June, he was elevated to the No. 1 contender's position by the WBC. On December 13, Rahman was matched with former WBA world champion John Ruiz, in a match for an Interim (i.e., temporary, pending the inactive champion's return) WBA heavyweight title. Rahman was favored, but appeared to be out of shape; he lost by (twelve round) unanimous decision on December 13.

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Athletes - Hasim Rahman

Biography

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