Hasim Rahman : overachiever or a natural?

Overachiever. Big and strong, but, not a great fighter. Slightly better than guys like Chisora and Whyte.

 

I think that thee were a number of heavyweights from that era who were as capable that never held the lineal title.

On that alone I have to class him as an overachiever.

 

It always baffled me how Maskaev had Rahman's number you'd think Rahman with the power he had in his right hand. Would've been able to stop Maskaev in atleast 1 of their 2 meetings considering Maskaev had been stopped by lesser opponents and had a below average chin.

But I agree with @Smokin Bert a bit above Whyte, Chisora, is a good take he was a solid Heavyweight with a good jab and a good right hand power.

I don't think he was anything special but he's maybe a tad underrated with people thinking he was a 1 hit wonder. He beat Sanders in a war and he should've had atleast 1 win over Tua but was robbed in their 2nd fight.

There's more to his resume than just the Lewis win.

 

Anyone else think he looked awful against Toney? Most have that fight for Rahman but I might be the only one who thinks draw was warranted but either way don't think he poked good against a fat out of shape middleweight

 

A Natural.

Had he been gotten to earlier, before his thug life and going through a windshield of a car, and we could be talking of him as a great. He had world class athleticism but was always playing catch-up in the skills department.

 

Maybe a Quarry type who got lucky? One of those really solid contenders with mixed results against other contenders, who have a chance at the title if they get a good roll of the dice. Which he did.

 

Overachiever, especially for starting boxing in his 20s.

 

That was a fight I had on VHS and watched more times than is warranted. I always felt Rahman won but he made it a lot harder on himself than he had to. Got sucked into an inside fight along the ropes when he had the much better jab and could have pummeled Toney with it along the ropes. It was an ugly fight and not a great performance

 

Overachiever

Fluke win over Lennox Lewis that he got wrecked in the rematch. Was going to get clobbered by Vitali but he got injured and was able to face Monte Barret for a vacant belt at a time when the division was not the strongest.

On the pro side he did beat Lennox, Sanders and was leading Tua and Maskaev when he got clocked. I thought he beat Tua the second time and was unlucky on the cards. I like the fact that he really seemed to fight everyone: Lennox, Wlad, Holyfield, Ruiz, Sanders, Tua, Maskaev and Toney. He had a solid jab and was tough though he had plenty of vulnerabilities.

 

Toney's weight wasn't that consistent and was a constant enigma too at times,so I thought it would still be a good,fair resume for Rahman.

 

Just watched it had it a draw though I can see it going either way lot of close rounds but yeah Rahman fought a stupid fight if he had just kept Toney at a distance and used his jab probably would have won an easy fight instead he chose to fight him on the inside where Toney is a master.
My scorecard:
James Toney vs Hasim Rahman
Round 1: Rahman
Round 2: Toney
Round 3: Toney
Round 4: Rahman
Round 5: Rahman
Round 6: Rahman
Round 7: Toney
Round 8: Toney
Round 9: Rahman
Round 10: Toney
Round 11: Toney
Round 12: Rahman
113-113 Draw

 

Overachiever due to his power.

 

@ his best, he was a solid fundamental boxer w/ a strong right hand. He didn't do any 1 thing spectacularly outside of his right, but he did show commendable guts & resilience in his battle w/ Sanders, which looks better in retrospect after Sanders' destruction of Wlad.

A case could be made that he was robbed in both Tua fights, since the 1st ended controversially w/ him getting nailed w/ a flagrant shot after the bell & then the ref jumping in arguably soonish the next round. Tua was a hot commodity @ the time & nobody wanted to see Rahman upset the applecart.

In retrospect, he had a tendency to overperform when expectations were low (i.e.: Lewis 1, both Tuas, Toney 1) but underperformed when expectations were higher (i.e.: Lewis 2, Maskaev 2, Toney 2).

This performance was probably Rahman's best showcase IMO, vs. an opponent who was well respected @ the time:

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I thought Rahman was robbed, & while I agree it was an ugly fight made tougher than it should've been by Rahman's readiness to fight inside, it should be noted that Toney came into the fight on an impressive run @ hw w/ wins over Holyfield, Ruiz (albeit reversed), & Guinn, + most people thought he deserved the nod over Peter in their 1st fight.

Ironically, it was Toney who was robbed in their rematch when Rahman plainly quit & the initial TKO ruling was overturned to a NC. Also ironic that Rahman performed far worse vs. an older, more faded Toney than in their 1st fight, but that seemed par for the course for how Rahman's career played out.