WAITING FOR REAL RAHMAN. TWO-TIME CHAMP OFTEN HIT-OR-MISS SPORTS FINAL Edition

[Hasim Rahman]'s inconsistency was evident in his matches and rematches with David Tua and Lennox Lewis. Rahman was beating Tua in the first match before getting fouled late in the ninth round and then getting stopped on a TKO in the 10th. In the rematch, he fought to a dull draw. Rahman KO...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDaily news (New York, N.Y. : 1920)
Main Author TIM SMITH DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, N.Y Tribune Publishing Company, LLC 11.08.2006
Subjects
Lewis, Lennox
Rahman, Hasim
Tua, David
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Summary:[Hasim Rahman]'s inconsistency was evident in his matches and rematches with David Tua and Lennox Lewis. Rahman was beating Tua in the first match before getting fouled late in the ninth round and then getting stopped on a TKO in the 10th. In the rematch, he fought to a dull draw. Rahman KO'd Lewis in the fifth round in the first bout in 2001, and seven months later was knocked out in the fourth round by Lewis. In that bout, Maskaev was the third replacement for a match Rahman had on HBO. Originally Rahman was supposed to fight Kirk Johnson (who KO'd Maskaev in 2000), but Johnson pulled out with an injury. Johnson was replaced by Zeljko Mavrovic, who had gone the distance against Lewis. Rahman said he continued to train hard for that match. But when Mavrovic pulled out of the fight and was replaced by Maskaev, Rahman pulled back on his training. The only thing Rahman knew about Maskaev was that he had been KO'd by Tua. This will be Rahman's second defense of the WBC title since the interim label was removed back in November (after champ Vitali Klitschko retired with a knee injury). Rahman defended it with a plodding decision against James Toney in March. He is promising a better performance against Maskaev, who will come straight ahead.