Hasim Rahman : overachiever or a natural?

An interesting and great P4P win for Toney and a baffling loss for Lewis is how I’ve always saw him.

 

He was slow of foot and lacked boxing skill but he had proper size, durability and mind set to be competitive at world level. He’s slightly underrated today, he beat 36-1 Sanders after being hurt badly, and he crushed 38-1 Lewis after trading with him for a few rounds. He was also outboxing Tua in first fight (not hard to do) before he got caught after the bell. And while Holyfield was a bit too skillful he was competitive in their fight. Obviously the high skill workers were too much for him, Toney as a blown up middle should never been able to do as good as he did, and he was Lost at sea against Wlad’s Jab. Maskaev also got to him twice another solid boxer. Good contender that had his moment in the sun.

 

The meehan win was impressive especially given how i felt he had beaten lamon Brewster

Interesting point on rahman the favorite vs rahman the underdog

 

Dude was benching 500 pounds by age 20. I'm pretty sure about that athleticism part.

 

Underrated like quite a few 2000s heavyweights in my opinion.

 

He was one of the physically strongest guys to ever lace them up. Luck tends to favor those guys even if they’re otherwise limited (I.e. Peter, Bonecrusher, Chisora, Purrity).

 

Always thought he was inconsistent. Lewis is obviously brilliant (someone called it a fluke - not sure how backing your man up and landing a massive right hand is a fluke but we move) and the Sanders win is very good.

Rahamn could punch but he was basic in a lot of ways. Fought a lot of journeymen types before going in with Tua. Maybe spent too long fighting guys who weren't world-level. When he did get there the bigger names usually came out on top. The Maskaev losses hurt his resume a lot for me. 2nd time around i was expecting a clear win for Rahman, but it didn't happen.

Had a good career, an interesting one in terms of results, with a couple of big wins.

 

I was able to spend the better part of a day with him before the Monte Barrett fight. Rahman was as physically imposing a person as I've ever met. When you go to fights and you meet a lot of these lighter weight fighters, you're surprised how small and unassuming many of them are. With Rahman, in person, he was a freaking monster. And I agree, he was so physically strong. Remember the studio brawl with Lennox Lewis? He grabbed Lewis and had him on the floor in a few seconds. And Lewis is huge in real life.

Rahman's physical strength doesn't get factored in a lot when studying him. He was a very good boxer. But he could be beaten by guys like Maskaev, who probably shouldn't have won either time. (Although some guys just have your number.)

If you ever met Rahman in person during his heyday, though, you could see why he was the top dog ever so briefly. He was intimidating.

 

There are many facets to athleticism. Strength and explosiveness are two of them. Think Jeffries, Foreman, Lewis. Furthermore, a dude with an 82" reach would typically have a very hard time hitting those upper registers in the bench. Not Rahman. He was even stronger than his lifts would suggest.

 

I've seen everywhere from 400 for reps to 600. The most reliable I've seen is 5 plates, or 495, from a dude who did some reporting.

 

Probably overachiever. He was a very tough guy with a big punch and a lot of heart but very little amateur pedigree and not highly touted in the beginning from memory. He made the best of what he had, became a world champion and was involved in some big fights

 

Another "rise to the occasion" guy.

They can certainly bring their A game and win the title on any given night. What they cannot do is have many title defenses. But on that 1 night they can be a very dangerous and underrated fighter that gets the results.

I think the guy fits in with lots of the 80's guys that were rise to the occasion types. But the ability to sustain it?

Would have liked to have seen how he does if he was nutured early w/ the great trainers and had some additional polishing; Angie Dundee. Or that strong corner Commander Vander had from day 1 w/ the Duva's. I tend to think we'd have a 25%, or more, improvement and that gets him to another stratosphere.