By Matt Stein: In a bout that may very well signal the end of two-time heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman’s boxing career, IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (52-3, 46 KOs) had too much size for Rahman, defeating him by a surprisingly easy 7th round TKO on Saturday night at the SAP-Arena, in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Rahman looked slow, unmotivated and badly out of his league in the fight and only rarely was able to land any significant punches. For the most part, Rahman looked like he was present in body only and was just going through the motions in the fight. Of course, Klitschko had a lot to do with that, as he jabbed Rahman silly with his telephone pole-like jab, and added a lot of blistering left hooks and right hands in as well.
A big part of Rahman’s undoing was his tendency to try and fight off the ropes, a move, I suppose, made in order to try and wait Wladimir out, let him tire himself out like he did in fights against Ross Purrity and Lamon Brewster.
If that was Rahman’s strategy, it was doomed for failure, as Klitschko pummeled a helpless looking Rahman against the ropes, making him look bad and connecting with hard head shots. For the most part, Rahman was pretty much limited to landing a punch here and there to Klitschko’s body, because when he would try to hit him to the head, Wladimir would lean backwards or move away and cause Rahman’s shots to miss badly.
By the 5th round, the situation was looking desperate for Rahman, since he had done almost nothing in the four previous rounds. Instead of trying to be more aggressive and taking the fight to Klitschko, Rahman only attempted a few pitiful punches in the round.
This left Wladimir free reign to continue pouring in jabs, right hands and left hooks to the head of Rahman, causing a large cut over the right eye of Rahman. In the 6th round, Wladimir nailed Rahman with three hooks to the head, sending Rahman down to the canvas. It was target practice for Klitschko for the remainder of the round as he toyed with Rahman, pelting him at will with heavy shots to the head.
In the 7th, Rahman looked ready to go and thankfully for him, Klitschko made it quick as he poured on a flurry of shots, staggering Rahman and causing referee Tony Weeks to step in and halt the fight at 0:44 of the round.
The loss, the second for Rahman in the past two years, it a critical blow to his career. He lost his WBC title to Oleg Maskaev in 2006, and looked unmotivated in his three-round no-contest fight with James Toney. Although the fight was ultimately stopped due to a cut over the eye of Rahman, he appeared like he didn’t want to fight anymore.
At 36, it’s unclear whether Rahman can work his way back into title contention one more time. To be sure, he didn’t have to face a live opponent in earning his title shot against Klitschko on this occasion, beating four 3rd tier fighters, but it’s doubtful he’ll get another free pass in the future. The way he looked against Klitschko on Saturday night, it’s questionable whether or not Rahman has enough left to beat a top contender in order to move up.
He certainly has the power to beat anyone in the division, but if he fights with as little energy as he fought against Klitschko, he has little chance of getting another title shot. Personally, I think he needs to retire. He looked terrible, fought passively and didn’t have any of his old energy that he possessed earlier in his career when he defeated Lennox Lewis to win the heavyweight title for the first time.
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