Hasim Rahman’s victory was good for the sport in South Africa and good for Lennox Lewis Deon Potgieter
The ”Thunder in Africa” tournament hit a resounding blow for world boxing and one of the benefactors will be South Africa. Another will be the man who lost his title.
Lennox Lewis’s dramatic dethroning as the universal heavyweight champion by Hasim Rahman in the early hours of Sunday morning was on the cards, despite the general belief that the man was invincible.
All the cards appeared to have been stacked in favour of the former champion: he was bigger, stronger, more experienced, has more natural talent but that’s not enough. When it comes to world title boxing, the man who wants it the most wins. Boxing is not a mere athletic sport; the fight is usually won before the combatants enter the ring.
If you wanted to know who was going to be the winner in this one, all you had to do was look into the faces of the men two days before the fight. I asked Lewis before the bout: ”With the whole world saying you are in a league of your own and that Rahman shouldn’t even be in the ring with you, how do you motivate yourself to fight a man like him?”
He replied: ”It doesn’t matter who I fight. I’m a professional sportsman and a true competitor. I will compete against whoever wants to compete with me.”
With those words he said it all he wasn’t preparing himself to fight Rahman, he was just getting ready to take another easy payday.
It was clear at the start of the fight that Lewis had no real strategy to beat Rahman. He figured he could play around with the lesser athlete for a few rounds and then knock him out. He carried his hands low, his mouth was hanging open and he wasn’t throwing as many bombs as he should have been; he was all but asking to be stopped.
In his defence, when he did land, he clearly hurt Rahman. He also missed with three big shots, that would have heralded the end of the bout had they landed. Rahman was in fact in trouble when he landed that tremendous right cross that would have floored any heavyweight who has ever graced the ring.
He had a cut above his right eye with blood seeping into it. Rahman admitted after the fight that he was battling to see his opponent clearly. He had shortly before that been rocked into the ropes by a blow by Lewis.
Had Lewis followed it up he could have still won the fight. However, his heart was not in it. He was just going through the motions against a man who had been dreaming of winning the heavyweight world title for eight years. This was going to be the greatest moment of Rahman’s life and he would not be denied by a man who did not respect his fistic abilities. The better man on the night won and fully deserved to do so.
The spin-offs of this bout will benefit all involved. The world heavyweight scene was in the process of dwindling into obscurity. Fight fans were getting bored and there appeared to be only one fight of interest out there, that being Lennox Lewis against Mike Tyson.
Lewis’s last outing was a boring 12-round affair against David Tua. Before that he had a no-contest bout against Frans Botha and a two-round outing against the amateurish- looking Michael Grant.
Tyson’s trail of recent fights have been waste-of-time events, not even worth mentioning.
The hope was that if these two were to clash there would be some fireworks and then seemingly that would be that bar the winner having a third bout against Evander Holyfield there was nothing else out there.
Rahman has changed all of that now. For starters a Rahman-Lewis return would be huge. HBO, the American television giant that played a large role in the event taking place in South Africa, has already indicated that the bout would be a pay-per-view affair and is thinking big money for both fighters.
Rahman has to give Lewis a return within five months. He will, however, be able to make a voluntary defence before then. Tyson is hoping that it will be against him.
Although at first look it appears as if there would be no contractual obligations between television networks to get in the way of a Rahman-Tyson bout, as there were with a Lewis-Tyson fight, there may still be problems along these paths.
South African-based promoters Golden Gloves and United States-based Cedric Kushner control the interests of Rahman. Having forged a relationship with HBO over many years, Golden Gloves won’t turn its back on the channel for a one-off deal with ShowTime television, even for a Tyson fight.
Golden Gloves is also on the verge of signing an HBO television deal for Lehlohonolo ”Hands of Stone” Ledwaba, who successfully made the fifth defence of his International Boxing Federation junior featherweight world title on Sunday morning. Golden Gloves has a number of other fighters who could be aspiring HBO combatants, the likes of Dingaan Thobela, Hawk Makepula and Cassius Baloyi. It now in fact holds a major negotiating tool, one which could bring a host of South African fighters into the spotlight of world boxing.
Rodney Berman, CEO of Golden Gloves, said after the fight: ”South African boxing will never be the same again. This win will have an unbelievable impact on the sport. Big things are coming for our fighters.”
Lewis’s loss may also open up the door for a Lewis-Tyson bout. It matters little that the titles won’t be on the line. These two are giants of the sport and would still attract a huge audience.
The loss will make other fighters who previously feared Lewis think that they could do the same as Rahman. If opponents enter the ring against him with more confidence, that will lead to Lewis elevating his performances and also attract more attention to his bouts.
This loss will be a new beginning for Lewis and in years to come it will be seen as the best thing that could have happened to him at this time.
An added bonus is that, just as people always say, ”Remember what happened in Tokyo,” when referring to the Tyson-Buster Douglas upset, they will now say, ”Remember what happened in South Africa.”