Former heavyweight title holder Hasim Rahman (45-6-2, 36 KOs) stopped Zuri Lawrence in the 10th last night at the Sovereign Center, Reading, in Pennsylvania. Rahman, struggled badly in the bout, and the fight was close to even in the final round when Rahman connected with a big right hand that hurt Lawrence. Rahman then went right hand crazy, driving a badly hurt Lawrence to the ropes where referee Gary Rosato stopped the fight at 2:20 of the 10th round. It wasn’t an easy fight for Rahman, who was cut over both eyes during the course of the bout.
Though Rahman came in at 243 lbs, he looked slow and lethargic, as if he needed to take off another 15 pounds or more. Rahman’s lack of speed hampered much of the night, as he was often too slow to land his right hands in the middle of the ring, and was forced much of the time to push Lawrence back up against the ropes where Rahman was able to land short rights at his trapped opponent. In some ways, it almost a replay of his bout with James Toney, in which most of the action took place with Toney trapped against the ropes.
To be sure, Rahman’s style of bulling his opponents to the ropes is effect against willing opponents, like Lawrence and Toney, but against an active heavyweight with ring smarts, Rahman would be forced to fight in the middle of the ring, a place where his lack of speed would handicap him. In the 2nd round, Rahman hurt Lawrence with a right hand and then followed it up with several more right hands.
However, Lawrence was able to escape the round without going down because the bell sounded, letting him escape. Lawrence rebounded well in the 3rd, and landed several sharp Combinations. However, Rahman rallied at the end after pushing Lawrence back up against the ropes and landing several big shots.
In the 5th round, Lawrence continued landing fast combinations, and using his speed advantage to out-land the plodding Rahman. For his part, Rahman looked similar to George Foreman in the 2nd half of his career. Painfully slow, but without Foreman’s devastating power.
In the sixth round, Rahman landed three consecutive right hands, knocking Lawrence out of the ring. He quickly climbed back in and the action resumed.
In the 7th through 9th rounds, Lawrence took charge of the fight as Rahman seemed to fade badly. Lawrence’s speed advantage allowed him to tag numerous combinations before Rahman was able to respond.
Going into the 10th round, the fight was essentially even. However, after starting the round strong, Lawrence was tagged with a right hand from Rahman, and badly hurt. Rahman then followed up with four more fight hands, prompting for the referee to move in and stop the fight.