Hasim Rahman vs Corrie Sanders - Underrated Heavyweight slugfest (25 year anniversary)

Two of the more athletically gifted large heavyweights. Sanders had incredible hand speed for his size and a brutal left hand. Rahman didn't have much of amateur background but what he did have was a sledgehammer right hand and a will too win. Fun fight from an era that I didn't fully appreciate at the time.

 

A win that aged incredibly well for Rahman.

 

Especially with Sanders blowing out Wladimir.

 

Good scrap. I think Rahman was at his best here.

 

That was a great fight. Watched it a few times

 

One of my favorite fights.

 

Sanders seems to be an all time underachiever ... simply not dedicated , a part time fighter ... he lacked the drive, activity and stamina to go with some terrific skills ... if he had burning desire he'd have had another career all together !

 

Sanders wasn't afraid to go after his opponent with his hands down and chin up. Whenever he landed a decent punch he'd follow up with hard punches and showed no regard for defense/self preservation when he was on the attack. When I watched this I thought I'd be seeing a fast guy who punched hard, but the way he took punches was impressive. He was getting hit HARD with punches he didn't see, by a good puncher while coming forward with his hands down, and while throwing punches. Rahman was smart to let his right hand go when Sanders was on the attack and he landed some nice right hands on Sander's unprotected chin. I was under the impression that Sanders didn't take a good punch but that didn't look like the problem in this one.

Sanders was fast, powerful, and tough but he when he was on the attack he didn't protect himself. Rahman fought a more disciplined fight and it paid off against a dangerous fighter.

 

Ironically Sanders' trainer was telling him over and over "Corrie ASSEBLIEF moenie met hom trade nie. Speel met hom" ie "Corrie, PLEASE don't trade with this guy, play with him" in other words he wanted Sanders to box Rahman and not try to blow him away. But Sanders used to sometimes get the Holyfield problem where he'd go for broke and he couldn't be dissuaded. Part of the reason might be because Sanders' training camp for that fight had been abysmal - he had done zero roadwork and little sparring due to a knee problem - and maybe he thought that his gas tank would not hold up in a long bout. I do agree that Sanders' chin was not bad, he had only one actual KO loss and that was Tubbs. The rest were TKOs against Vitali and Rahman and in his very last fight.

 

Sure would have liked to have seen Corrie with another trainer. Just a little polishing would be a big benefit.

 

Great thread. This fight is the best orthodox vs southpaw slugfest i have ever seen at heavyweight. I enjoyed it though i wish Sanders would have won. Would have loved to see Sanders Lewis.

 

I think Volbrecht was fine as a trainer. It was on Sanders to actually train hard.

Personally I reckon somebody should have kept his career on the boil. I think he got demotivated training for months to face a guy that he'd invariably KO in 1-2 rounds. He could have crammed in twice the fights and maybe raised his name profile that way.

If you look at Sanders interviews, he was always hoping to fight guys like Tyson, Holyfield and Lewis. Honestly, I think he never got his big break until he was old because he was a dangerous prospect to face and didn't have the name recognition / fan base to bring in the money that would have made it attractive for the big names to face. Basically the epitome of a high risk / low reward fighter.

 

Sanders needed a promoter who was willing to put him up there with top fighters. Back then southpaws were rare and lots of heavyweights were not keen on the idea of facing a 220 lb hard hitting leftie.

I do wonder if he was 25 years younger and fighting today. There are so many lefties today that orthodox fighters simply can't avoid them.

But yes, it was on Sanders to train hard, which he wasn't too keen on doing.