Former world heavyweight boxing title holder Hasim Rahman (43-6-2, 34 KOs) stopped the normally durable journeyman fighter Dicky Ryan (55-10, 44 KOs) in the 2nd round after landing several tremendous body shots that sucked the wind out of Ryan and sending him crashing to the canvas on Friday night at the oaring Eagle Casino, in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan.
Rahman, 34, a former two-time heavyweight champion, showed that he still has his awesome power as he blasted with sledgehammer right hands in the first round, sending Ryan down to the canvas twice. He arose each time only to be greeted by more right hand shots from Rahman, who appeared to want to end the bout early. In the 2nd round, Rahman continued to land mostly right hands, which Ryan, 40, had no defense for. A short time later, Rahman unloaded with three shots to Ryan’s soft midsection, which doubled him over and sent him to the canvas where he laid in pain as the referee counted him out.
This was only the second bout for Rahman since losing his WBC heavyweight title last year in a 12th round knockout loss to Oleg Maskaev at the Thomas & Mack Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Rahman, ranked #4 in the WBC, weighed in at a soft 251 lbs, showing that he still has a lot of work to do trim down to his former fighting weight during his prime years. In his last bout, Rahman weighed in at 261, which indicated that Rahman is progressing with his conditioning. However, it will be interesting to see if he can continue this for his future bouts.
Rahman gained fame by knocking out then champion Lennox Lewis in the 5th round on April 22, 2001. However, Rahman would turn around and lose the title in his very next bout when he was stopped by Lewis in the fourth round on November 17, 2001.