June 1st 2002. Just watched this fight again last night after quite sime time since I last seen it. It is quite rightfully remembered as the big hematoma fight as the lastingimpression of Rock’s grotesque swelling will always be the main talking point. As for the fight itself I tried scoring it again and it was as a biatch to score as always. Most of the rounds were close mauling,brawling,messy affairs with see saw action between Commander Vander’spurts and Rock’s more basic boxing. Rahman with new training set up of Bouie Fisher and Naazim Richardson looked like many fighters trying out something new for the first time and caught in between styles. You could see him trying to keep punches short and straight behind a jab but he would look as awkward as possible in it?Great shape for him though,at 224 lbs the 29 year old eas possibly in his best shape ever. 216 lb 39 year old Evander was somewhat overrated by the HBO crew during the broadcast as I thought they were nuancing his work a bit to much. But then again it was a damn near 40 year old still fighting competitively at world class level. I had it 67-66 Rahman thru 7 as did Melvina Lathan and initially thought that the two 69-64 score were too wide but as I thought about it outside of rounds 6 and 8 all of them were up for debate you can make a case for those cards. Lederman absolutely right that the 8th partial round was INCORRECTLY not scored by the judges which was as huge a mistake as possible in officiating.He is also right that it was academic in the final score anyway. Foreman was quite on point for a change haha with some astute comments regarding Holyfield’s weakness of his right side,Rahman’s lack of a left hook etc. But it was a decently entertaining heavyweight scrap where the styles didnt really mesh well. What dis you guys think?
Holyfield's savvy consisted of throwing a left-hook bodyshot that changed the fight. Backed up smack up edit: just speed watched it. Make that a right-hook to the body followed by a left hook up top that turned things.. Great fight.. and Holyfield was taking him to school, G-Man
Last victory in a brilliant series of fights: 1. Buster Douglas WIN 2. George Foreman WIN 3. Bert Cooper WIN 4. Larry Holmes WIN 5. Riddick Bowe LOSS 6. Alex Stewart WIN 7. Riddick Bowe WIN 8. Michael Moorer LOSS 9. Ray Mercer WIN 10. Riddick Bowe LOSS 11. Bobby Czyz (light heavyweight title and cruiserweight title) WIN 12. Mike Tyson WIN 13. Mike Tyson WIN 14. Michael Moorer WIN 15. Vaughn Bean WIN 16. Lennox Lewis DRAW 17. Lennox Lewis LOSS 18. John Ruiz WIN 19. John Ruiz LOSS 20. John Ruiz DRAW 21. HASIM RAHMAN WIN 22. Chris Byrd LOSS 23. James Toney LOSS This is how the title (s) are defended, including Hasim Rahman. What a contenders.
To be honest it looked to me like an accidental clash of heads that initiated Rahman’s alien head in the 7th. Wasnt intentional.
It seems to me that the headbutt was not intentional, but it was immediately followed by a kick in the knot (combination? ). Who knows...
Several people here have said this altough I disagree(while ironically being a hige Evander fan). Anyway,judt to emphasize my point I found a site than has fan scorecards and as you can see most people had it nip and tuck and very narrow for either guy at the mome t if the stoppage: [url]https://eyeonthering.com/boxing/evander-holyfield-vs-hasim-rahman[/url] I just cant see those two 69-64 cards being what happened in the ring.
