BoxRec

There seems to be a lot of hue and cry on the "Current Scene" about when Rahman is going to get his shot at Vitali Klitschko, with people saying Vitali is ducking him, and that Rahman is such a great contender. Is it me, or are people getting a little too overexcited by the prospect of Klitschko v Rahman? Personally I don't expecially fancy Hasim's chances, the guy is talented but a consistent underachiever who lacks motivation. Maybe the optimism is more to do with the state of the division right now. Let's have a look at what he's achieved since the big KO win over Lennox Lewis in South Africa:

2001 Lennox Lewis L KO 4
2002 Evander Holyfield L TD 8
2003 David Tua D PTS 12
2003 John Ruiz L UD 12
2004 Alfred Cole W UD 10
2004 Mario Cawley W TKO 2
2004 Rob Calloway W KO 2
2004 Terrence Lewis W KO 2
2004 Kali Meehan W TKO 4

That's actually 3 losses and a draw in fights against big "name" fighters, followed by 5 wins over less than notable opposition, hardly solid ground for major excitement. The most encouraging thing is that his weight was down in the 230's again for Meehan.

Rahmans record in the last 4 yrs against ranked heavyweights is very poor.

All of a sudden hes a refreshed "new" Hasim Rahman just because he stopped a chump like Kali Meehan when everyone in the UK remembers Danny Williams knocking the guy cold in 30 seconds.

Rahman has no chance of beating Klitschko but the Americans have to cling on to everything they can.

I'm not a big fan of Klit either but at least i'm realistic. Klit specialises in picking apart slow-motion guys like Rahman.

Klit got his shot the same way by beating winning easy fights though too.

Klit knocked out Larry Donald.

overhand_right wrote:Klit knocked out Larry Donald.

Not sure if that is impressive or not.

Far better than knocking out Kali Meehan.

Larry is fast, and has one of the best chins of the HW's.

>>>>Rahmans record in the last 4 yrs against ranked heavyweights is very poor.<<<<

At least Rahman has fought ranked heavyweights, which is something that a supposed champion is suppose to do and he also did something that Vitali just simply could not do...knock out Lennox Lewis!


Larry Donald....HAAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAHAAAAAA!!! By the way...it was a TKO...not a knockout!

Rahman I think would pose Vitali quite a few problems. Hasim for his size has freakish reach even longer than Vitali which he can use to keep Klitschko at bay which his great jab. He is a quick starter and has fast hands.Also we dont know how Vitali's inactivity will affect him (last fight in December). Rahman by losing nearly 30 pounds has shown that he has the hunger and his lobbying for a fight with Vitali proves he wants to fight the best.

Yeah, Rahman has about 4.25 inch reach over Vitali and he DOES have a great jab when he uses it. But he will be punching up against a guy 5.5 inches taller. After 5 rounds his arms are going to be dead and then he will absorb incoming diving punches coming from a great height and with big power. Rahman has a punchers chance, but other than that he wouldnt even compete. Any man over 230lb can punch hard. You need a little more to beat Vitali.

Don't think that 5 inches will be that much for Rahman though as he doesn't need to land on the top of his skull just land on his chin so shouldn't be a problem.

barry wrote:>>>>Rahmans record in the last 4 yrs against ranked heavyweights is very poor.<<<<

At least Rahman has fought ranked heavyweights, which is something that a supposed champion is suppose to do and he also did something that Vitali just simply could not do...knock out Lennox Lewis!


Larry Donald....HAAAAAAAHAAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAHAAAAAA!!! By the way...it was a TKO...not a knockout!

Good point, in the last two years Vitali has only fought 1 top ten opponent, the semi retired Corrie Sanders.

Rahman has fought more and if he beats Barrett he has beaten the same amount also.

Lennox wasn't a top ten heavy?

Don't say something stupid like 2 years and 5 days isn't 2 years. :P

Tantum wrote:Lennox wasn't a top ten heavy?

Don't say something stupid like 2 years and 5 days isn't 2 years. :P

Thats exactly what I was going to say. 2 years is what I said. Two years since some people have been calling him the man (yes, I have read some posts in which some people - from ESB - rated him at one the day after the Lewis contest).

i think the reason people are giving rahman a chance, is that he has a good dig, a good jab, and that technically Vitali is far from sound.

Personally, i think vitali will give a long slow prolonged beating and cut him to pieces.

I hope Rahman is nice an light and will be moving very quickly, lets test this Vitali's stamina at a pace he doesn't like.

I geniunally think, Sanders found some chinks in the armour and that is the way to beat him - just be fitter yourself though.

stujones wrote:I geniunally think, Sanders found some chinks in the armour and that is the way to beat him - just be fitter yourself though.

I don't know whether Sanders found any particular chinks, but Vitali did look petrified by Corrie's left hand that night and was jumping about all over the place to get out of it's way from the first bell. I can only attribute that to his brother telling him all about it's devastating effects. Sanders certainly hurt Vitali a few times with it, but Corrie's fast left would hurt anyone.

Strangely Vitali hasn't impressed me as much in his 3 fights post-Lennox as he did in the actual loss to Lewis. He seemed to show no fear of Lennox unlike the fight with Sanders. The Kirk Johnson and Danny Williams fights were too facile to prove anything other than he is a top heavyweight who will mercilessly beat sub-standard opposition. That is not the same as dominating other top opponents.

I'd like to see him take on someone reasonable in September and then the winner of Rahman v Barrett in December, unless a unification can be made. Seeing as this WBC eliminator has been pushed back to August now it isn't reasonable to expect the winner to fight Vitali the following month, however this is NOT a valid excuse for Klitschko to fight Oleg Maskaev as has been rumoured. There are around 10 other guys who should be available who would mount a better challenge.

Whilst he had his mouth open vs Williams, I geniunally feel he was tired in the Lewis fight and tiring in the Sanders one, its a shame Corrie only had 3 good rounds in him (the rest he was sporadic and out on his feet through fatigue).

stujones wrote:Whilst he had his mouth open vs Williams, I geniunally feel he was tired in the Lewis fight and tiring in the Sanders one, its a shame Corrie only had 3 good rounds in him (the rest he was sporadic and out on his feet through fatigue).

Of course, but when assessing a big modern heavyweight you just assume they can't fight more than a few rounds without puffing and blowing like an old boiler. It's virtually standard!