Rahman wants rematch with Tua, says he’ll knock him out this time

By Boxing News - 07/04/2010 - Comments

By Matt Stein: Former WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman (47-7-2, 38 KO’s) would like nothing better than to fight a rematch with David Tua (51-3-1, 43 KO’s), whom he has fought twice already, once in 1998 and another time in 2003. Tua knocked Rahman out in the 10th round in 1998, and then fought to a 12 round draw with Tua in March 2003.

Rahman, now 37, dropped Tua a second after the bell ended in the 12th. The knockdown didn’t count unfortunately for Rahman or else he would have won the fight. Rahman lost his WBC heavyweight title in a 12th round TKO to Oleg Maskaev in 2006.

Since that defeat, Rahman, with the exception of his 7th round TKO loss to IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in December 2008, has won five of seven fights with one of the bouts being ruled a no contest with James Toney.

In an article at Stuff.co.nz, Rahman said “Right now, I think David Tua is the biggest fight out there for me. I want the fight. I would drop everything in one minute flat to come over…I would fight him, anytime, anyplace, anywhere.”

Rahman could really use a win over Tua right now to get back into the top 15 rankings. Rahman has slipped out of the top 15 recently, likely because of his lack of top contenders on his resume.

Tua hasn’t done much better, although he has defeated Shane Cameron and Friday Ahunanya in the past year. Those wins have enabled Tua to grab the number #2 ranking in the WBO, right behind number #1 ranked Alexander Povetkin.

This means that if Tua can keep winning, he should be able to get a fight against Wladimir Klitschko in the next year or two. It’s doubtful that Tua would be interested in risking that potential fight by taking on a still dangerous fighter like Rahman.

Tua will be facing 39-year-old Monte Barrett on July 17th at the Tropicana Hotel & Casino, in Atlantic City, New Jersey. That’s a winnable fight for Tua, and he should be able to get the win without tiring himself out or looking bad.



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