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July 2001
Each month we bring you a selection of articles from the current and past issues of BOXING MONTHLY. To buy the magazine, see our subscription or back issues pages, or use our world distribution map to find a news-stand copy. Why not use our Interactive Forum to express your own boxing comments and opinions!
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KNOW YOUR ROLE He may be responsible for throwing the heavyweight division into confusion, but new champ Hasim 'The Rock' Rahman appears to know where he's going and, at least when this piece was written, showed no signs of doing a Buster Douglas. STEVE FARHOOD reports |
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Stoic Resistance: Rahman held up under fire from Lewis but now will face different pressures
- Get Big Pic Chaos and confusion surround Hasim Rahman, but in the middle of the maelstrom, the newly crowned heavyweight champion seems a Rock of stability. All the lawsuits, all the promotional contracts, all the duffel bags full of money don't change one undisputable fact: On 21 April, Rahman won the world heavyweight title by knocking out 20-1 favourite Lennox Lewis with one punch. Having beaten the man, he is now The Man. Or Da Man, if you'd prefer. Boxing Monthly sat down with Rahman, who was holding his two-year-old daughter Amirah in his arms, following a press conference announcing his 4 August defence (the courts willing) against David Izon in Beijing, China. This came only 17 days after a press conference to announce that Rahman would be making his initial defence against Brian Nielsen. Rahman may hold the belts, but confusion reigns. BM: In the five weeks of craziness, have you been able to keep things in perspective? HR: I keep thinking like I'm the challenger, I'm the underdog. I expected all of this because I've watched champions before me. I'm just taking it all in, staying grounded, and training like I still have something to prove. BM: Still, it can't be easy to try and maintain a normal life. HR: It hasn't been easy, but it's part of the responsibility of being heavyweight champion of the world. Would I give up being heavyweight champion because of this? No. BM: Let's go back to the Lewis fight. When you were training, I'm sure you envisioned what would happen in Johannesburg. What picture did you see? HR: A tough fight between Lennox and myself. I thought he'd be worried about my right hand and I'd catch him with my left hook. I knew Emanuel [Steward, Lewis's trainer] knew I had a good right, so I told all my people I'd have to catch [Lewis] with the hook. I felt I was gonna knock him out. I just felt it was gonna be with the hook. He ran into the right hand. BM: A lot has been made of Lewis's lack of preparation. It's as if the media wants people to believe Lewis lost the fight more than you won it. HR: Well, I'll tell you like this: Any fighter that gets hit with that type of punch, the same thing is gonna happen. They're going to sleep, too. A beautiful shot. Not bragging or anything, but it is what it is. You can say what you want. Emanuel Steward told me his man was in shape. When he got there, he ran five miles. That's more than I did when I got there. I ran two miles. I couldn't run any more than two miles. For somebody to tell me he wasn't in shape, I challenge them. I say, well, the man was 253 pounds [18st 1lb]. His back muscles were there. That's [only] three pounds heavier than what he ever weighed. BM: After Buster Douglas beat Mike Tyson, he trained for his first defence by eating pizza in a sauna. You're not Douglas, but you're riding in limousines now. It's gonna be harder to train properly. HR: If I felt that was gonna be the case, if I felt I couldn't handle this, then I'd be fighting Tyson or Lennox for a much bigger payday. I had an easy, easy road right in front of me, but I rejected it. So I'm definitely here, and God willing, I'm gonna be here for a while. Lennox, Tyson, Holyfield, they had their time. Now it's time for something new. BM: Relive the punch for me. You backed Lewis to the ropes . . . Take it from there. HR: I have to take it back a little further. I hit the guy with a right hand and I saw him smile. So I felt like he was inviting me to finish him off. When I threw a series of left hands, I was missing, but still getting him into a position so I could throw the right. Then he bounced off the ropes and it was like his chin just got, like, huge. It was like I couldn't miss his chin, and I just threw the shot. When I hit him, I felt he was knocked out on contact because I felt his body lose control. All of a sudden, he was straight up then all of the life came out of it. BM: When you went to a neutral corner, were you saying to yourself: "I'm heavyweight champion of the world"? HR: When I walked away, I looked at him just to make sure. I felt like: "He can't get up from that shot. He cannot get up from that shot." So I peeked over to reaffirm it to myself. And that was it, it was over. All the hard work was for something. BM: Tell me about one or two recent incidents that have reminded you how your life is drastically different now. HR: So many things. Let's see . . . I was invited to Mecca by the kings. I had a royal trip, stayed in first-class accommodations all the way at the king's palace. I saw things I would never ordinarily see. We had always wondered what it was like to be there. That was the ultimate right there. I barely pay for anything anymore. I can afford it, but they don't want my money, my money's no good anywhere . . . I got more relatives than I had before [laughs]. BM: How much money do you have on you right now? HR: Seven, eight dollars. BM: It was reported that after beating Lewis, you were ready to sign with HBO, but when they failed to produce a cheque, you walked. You knew that if they promised you a cheque, you would've had it in another day or so . . . HR: That's besides the point. The point was I agreed to sign the contract. I made it a point: "Look, when I sign this contract, have the money there. I'm not coming up there if the money's not there." They told me the money was there. "Oh, you'll have the check, blah blah blah, blah blah blah." So they misled me. Therefore, I walked. Had they said it was gonna take a day, or the next day, or the next day, had I agreed to that, I never would've walked. BM: At what point did Don King enter the picture? HR: He was always probably lingering around somewhere, but seriously for me, I heard everybody's final offer. Then I went to Don and got his offer. And not that I signed with Don then, but I went back and told them Don's offer. BM: HBO and Showtime? HR: HBO. Had they matched his offer, it would've been a done deal. But they ain't matched his offer. I mean, what can I do? I had to go with that. That was the best offer for me. BM: When I interviewed you for Boxing Monthly before you fought Lewis, you said that after you won, you would thank Las Vegas oddsmaker Herb Lambeck for making you a 20-1 underdog. Do you know what odds Herb has made for Rahman-Lewis II and Rahman-Tyson? HR: What? I love it. BM: Lewis 3-1 over Rahman, and Tyson 3-1 over Rahman, too. HR: Oh, really? He's still making me the underdog, but that's in accordance with how I like to feel anyway. He's shrinking [the odds] a lot, but I don't really feel these guys can beat me. Herb, he needs a little bit more convincing. So as long as Herb is making me the underdog, I don't feel I can lose. Hopefully, those other fighters will read that, too. BM: What are the differences in how you match up against Lewis, Tyson, and Izon? HR: Izon is a durable guy. I feel like I have to come in against each of these guys in tremendous shape, and put on a memorable performance. With all three of these guys I'm gonna use the basics, and then just let it go. I seen Izon's fight with Derrick Jefferson. I seen him fight where he pours it on early, and I seen him just play catch. So I'm not sure which guy is gonna show up. But I'm gonna try and make the guy who plays catch show up. If he plays catch with me the way he did with Jefferson, he won't be around to make no late-round dramatic upsets. My jab is like a right hand, so I can do a lot of damage with that punch. I just work everything off of that. BM: When and if you fight Lewis again, how much of a psychological advantage is it that you knocked him out? HR: With Lennox, I might want to abandon the boxing. I might want to go right at him and make him fight. Maybe he's still thinking of that right hand, so I'll just remind him of it really, really quick. Tyson, he can be handled because he's gonna come right to me and I can just counterpunch him. He's gonna come wild and crazy, thinking he's gonna land a big, big punch. You just keep your defence tight with him. You know, all these guys are in their 30s. I feel I'm the fresher, younger guy and I should be able to outlast them and outthink them. I feel I can beat all these guys. If I didn't, I would've just fought Tyson and done a Bruce Seldon, if you will. BM: The title of heavyweight champion is a symbolic one. How would you like to be viewed by the public? And what are your goals as champion? HR: I just want to let the people know that this champion is the coolest champion there ever was. This guy walks around . . . he didn't go Hollywood on us. You would never believe this man had this much money. He's so normal, so real. I was just in Miami, getting my WBC belt at a Memorial Day festival down there, and I was riding around on scooters. The people couldn't believe it. Everybody wanted to take pictures and touch me. I'll be an accessible champion, not one you can't reach or get to. I'll be a champion for the people. I'm with them every day. I still go to the same places in Baltimore [Maryland]. I just want them to know the heavyweight champ is a normal person. BM: But this lack of privacy is still new to you. You don't think that in time, it's gonna get a little old? HR: Well, I don't believe it will because I look at it as part of the job. As long as I'm the champ, I'm expecting this. I understand this is part of being the champion. So as long as I want these belts, I want this attention. Until I'm ready to give up the belts, I'm putting myself in the spotlight. If I'm not willing to sit down and do the interviews and do the phone calls and get the pictures snapped . . . I want to bring it to the people. BM: Against Corrie Sanders last year, you were knocked down and hit harder than you'd ever been hit. But you got up. If you hadn't, you probably never would have gotten a shot at Lewis. What was it in you that enabled you to survive that fight? HR: I don't think I was ever thought of as somebody who would quit. I always get up unless I can't get up. And that's just me; I'm a fighter. Unless you put me in a position where I can't throw these hands, I will be throwing them in an effort to knock you out, from bell one to bell 12. I believe that's what lets me win fights. The guy [Sanders] hit me with shots . . . When I look at the tape, I still can't tell you what was going through my mind. They were just so blinding. And there was so much speed with the punch. I just didn't see the punches. He really did hurt me. BM: If someone were to take all this away for a moment and you had a four-hour stretch at home to relax, what would you do? HR: Sleep. Stay away from airplanes and just get some sleep. Uninterrupted sleep. The only bad thing about this being heavyweight champion, my kids can bear the expense. I'm everybody's champion, but I'm only three people's daddy. And they're the three people who don't see me as much as I would like them to see me. So me being here, there and there, they can't be with me. That's the only bad thing about it. That's my only regret. My four-year-old and two-year-old, I definitely plan to have them walk my belts out in China.
[Rahman's other child is 9.] This is our title, the family's championship. BM: It must've been some scene when your nine-year-old son walked into school and said: "My daddy just won the heavyweight championship." HR: I'm sure it was. He's a smart little boy and they let him read the newspaper over the PA system. He's enjoying it. He understands it more than the other ones. My four-year-old looks at me like I'm champion of the world and not her daddy anymore. Zab Judah was his favourite fighter before, but now it's me and Zab Judah [laughs]. BM: When I say to you, Hasim Rahman, heavyweight champion of the world, does it still catch you off-guard a little bit? HR: Well, it's definitely an accomplishment because people wrote me off after the [Oleg] Maskaev fight [which Rahman lost by eighth-round KO in 1999]. I came up with: "I wasn't trained," and "I can beat this guy." Yeah, that's what they all say. But I definitely didn't train. I left camp and did what I wanted to do. But people don't want to hear that. All they want to see is the end-result. So I had to come out and prove it. And I've been proving it ever since. I'm definitely here to fight, and anybody who gets in the ring with me will be in for a fight. |
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