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Hasim Rahman
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Hasim "The Rock" Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972), is an American boxer who became the heavyweight champion of the world by knocking out Lennox Lewis in 2001. His nickname is The Rock (the name comes from his last name, "rock-mahn"). Rahman lives in Las Vegas, NV and trains in Rochester, NY.
Professional career
Rahman grew up in Baltimore, but unlike most championship boxers, got a relatively late start in the sport.
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Encyclopedia
Hasim "The Rock" Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972), is an American boxer who became the heavyweight champion of the world by knocking out Lennox Lewis in 2001. His nickname is The Rock (the name comes from his last name, "rock-mahn"). Rahman lives in Las Vegas, NV and trains in Rochester, NY.
Professional career
Rahman grew up in Baltimore, but unlike most championship boxers, got a relatively late start in the sport. He was an enforcer for drug dealers, and in his section of the city he was portayed as a young Frank Lucas, he's known for surviving several shootings. He nearly died in a car accident (which left him with a permanent scar on his cheek) and once survived a shooting where five bullets entered his body. 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 determine the IBF's mandatory contender. Rahman was fighting well when Tua staggered him with a punch after during the bell in the ninth round. Because the punch was maybe illegal, Rahman should have been given up to five minutes to recover, but the referee erroneously forced him to begin the 10th round only after the normal one minute break in between rounds. Tua pounced on him immediately, and the ref jumped in when Rahman was bobbing and weaving, but not punching back and sitting on the ropes.
Because of the controversial nature of the loss, Rahman's ranking did not suffer, but in November 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.
Winning the Heavyweight Championship
Rahman came back with three wins, including one in May 2000 over Corrie Sanders, and moved back up in the rankings. Finally, on April 22, 2001, Rahman earned a shot at Lennox Lewis, the WBC and IBF heavyweight champion.
In the fight, held at Brakpan, South Africa, Lewis and Rahman traded hard blows for five rounds before Rahman, a 20-to-1 underdog, stunned the crowd by knocking Lewis out with one punch. It was only the second loss of Lewis' career, and made Rahman the third Muslim, after Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson, to hold a world heavyweight title. (Since 2001, the list has grown to include Ruslan Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimov.)
Lewis had an immediate-rematch clause in the contract for his defense against Hasim, and chose to invoke it. Rahman and his new promoter, Don King, made plans to defend the titles against David Izon, rather than giving Lewis his rematch. Lewis sued Rahman in U.S. federal court to enforce their contract. The judge, Neil McCluskey sided with Lewis and on November 17, 2001,in Las Vegas, Nevada, the two men met again. This time, Lewis knocked Rahman out in the fourth round.
On March 29, 2003, Rahman faced Tua for a second time. The fight was ruled a draw after one judge scored it for Rahman, a second for Tua and a third had the score even. In June, Rahman 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 WBA heavyweight title (Caused by Roy Jones deciding whether he wanted to stay a heavyweight or return to Light Heavyweight). Rahman was favored, but he lost by (twelve round) unanimous decision.
After this defeat, Rahman stepped back to a lower level of competition and defeated four journeyman fighters while working to get back into shape. His efforts paid off when he was rewarded with a fight against Kali Meehan on November 13, 2004. The fight was an elimination bout for the IBF, WBA, and WBC, with the winner being the number-one contender in more than one world-title organization. Rahman scored the victory by a fourth-round knockout at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
Klitschko Fight Cancellations
The WBC designated Rahman as Vitali Klitschko’s next mandatory challenger; the fight was set for April 30, 2005. Klitschko injured his thigh while training for the fight, so it was rescheduled for June 18. As this date approached, Klitschko’s camp said that the thigh had not fully healed; the WBC made July 23 the new fight date. Soon after this second postponement, Vitali’s doctors reportedly discovered back injuries that they said demanded minor-yet-immediate corrective surgery. The WBC pushed Rahman's title shot back again, this time to November 12; Rahman's share of the purse following this match would reportedly be around $4.2 million (U.S.).
After this third rescheduling, Rahman, fought for a WBC "Interim" heavyweight championship and defeated Monte Barrett on August 13, 2005, via unanimous decision.
At this point, Klitschko would be stripped of his WBC title if his first fight back was not against Rahman. On November 7, it was announced that Klitschko had suffered severe right knee injuries during training; the WBC said it would strip him of the championship if he was unable to box within 60-90 days of a soon-to-be-announced base date. However, on November 9, Vitali Klitschko retired instead. On November 10, 2005, the WBC voted to award its heavyweight championship to Rahman.
Career After Klitschko Crisis
On December 9, 2005, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ended Rahman's contract with Don King and he signed instead with Top Rank Boxing.
On March 18, 2006, Rahman fought James Toney to a draw, in 12-round fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey, but he retained the WBC heavyweight title. On August 12, 2006, Rahman lost the WBC heavyweight championship to rival Oleg Maskaev by 12th Round TKO in a mandatory defense of his title.
Second Comeback
After a long layoff, Rahman resumed his career with a ten-round unanimous decision over Taurus Sykes June 14, 2007, at The Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York. Rahman then fought three times in three months defeating 77 fight veteran Will Wainwright by second round TKO on September 7, 2007. Hasim followed up by stopping Cerrone Fox on October 18, 2007. On November 15, 2007, Rahman then scored a 10th round TKO for the NABF title against Zuri Lawrence. On July 16, 2008, Rahman was stopped by an accidental headbutt against James Toney. Toney was originally awarded a TKO victory as the referee declared Rahman had quit between rounds, nonetheless, the TKO victory was overturned and changed to a No Contest due to an accidental headbutt.
Rahman lost to Wladimir Klitschko (TKO in the 7th round) on December 13, 2008, for his IBF, IBO and WBO titles.
In an interview dated February 26, 2009, with DreamFighters.com, Rahman expressed his interest in crossing over into mixed martial arts.
Record
Career
- WBU Heavyweight Champion
- IBO Heavyweight Champion
- IBF World Heavyweight Champion (held simultaneously with the WBC Title)
- WBC World Heavyweight (21st) Champion
- WBC World Heavyweight (24th) Champion (as of November 10, 2005)
- 2001 Upset of the Year - Ring Magazine (knocked out unified IBF/WBC Champion, Lennox Lewis)
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