Should We Take Hasim Rahman Seriously?
If Hasim Rahman never wins another boxing match, he’ll already have secured his place in boxing history. His career-defining moment came in 2001 when he shocked Lennox Lewis with a devastating one-punch knockout in South Africa to win the WBC and IBF heavyweight championships and pull off one of the biggest upsets in heavyweight boxing history.
That bright spot in Rahman’s career stands alone next to many other disappointments, starting when Lewis summarily dispatched of Rahman in the fourth round of their rematch seven months later. Rahman (47-7-2, 38 KOs) has had four other title shots in his career, going 0-3-1 in these contests. His most recent attempt at a world title came in December 2008 when he was stopped by Wladimir Klitschko in the seventh round.
Rahman is now 38, and when most fighters hit the stage in their career that Rahman is at, they start thinking about calling it a career. It appeared that Rahman was heading down that path following his loss to Klitschko, as he was inactive in 2009. However, he decided to rededicate himself to the sport and has since fought twice in 2010, most recently stopping Shannon Miller in the fourth round in Niagara Fall, New York.
You certainly can’t fault Rahman for lacking in self-confidence, although it’s debatable about whether that confidence is bordering on delusion. He recently said that he wasn’t 100 per cent in agreeing to fight Klitschko, hinting that he might have been able to beat the man considered the best heavyweight today despite his spotty record heading into the fight. At the same time, Rahman also appears to be ready to admit that his previous lax conditioning and training might have cost him a chance to be a dominant heavyweight in the 2000s.
Rahman started working with Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and has said that he’s dedicated himself to becoming a more complete fighter and not just the heavy-hitting brawler who was more than willing to take a punch in order to deliver a punch. This was often his downfall, as evidenced by the fact that he was stopped in five of his seven career losses.
But can an old dog learn new tricks? It’s certainly hard to say based on the level of competition that Rahman has faced on his most recent comeback. Neither Miller nor Clinton Boldridge is exactly elite calibre fighters (in fact Miller retired immediately after losing to Rahman) and the former champion was hardly pushed. The fact that Miller actually appeared to hurt Rahman with a big shot early in their fight might be considered a sign that Rahman’s comeback has a long way to go before being considered successful.
Even though Rahman is 38, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he can’t be a factor in the heavyweight division again. After all, he’s the same age as Vitali Klitschko and other heavyweight contenders like Nikolay Valuev, Tony Thompson and Juan Carlos Gomez are all in the their late 30s or older. And Rahman looks like a spring chicken when compared to his former foe Holyfield, who is still searching for one more title shot at 47.
However, the problem is that Rahman might very well be an old 38, having absorbed a lot of punishment and gone through a lot of wars in his career. The main question to ask about a Rahman comeback is this: what exactly has changed to suddenly make him capable of winning a world title fight when he’s fallen short so many times before? Rahman has a history of failing to show up for his biggest fights, and winning against people like Clinton Boldridge or Shannon Miller won’t change this. Although he might be able to compete against other former contenders like Holyfield or Shannon Briggs, it’s hard to imagine him winning another world title.
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