Boxing: Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev

[TSIAS]

This weekend's most high profile fight features two decent heavyweights in Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskaev. Rahman is most famous for his 2001 upset KO of Lennox Lewis in Johannesburg, South Africa. The champion, Lewis, came in unprepared and was shocked by a big Rahman right hand in the 5th Round. Seven months later, Lewis won the rematch by decisive 4th Round Knockout. Rahman has lingered around the division for the past five years. In two of his most notable fights since, he lost to an over-the-hill Evander Holyfield in a fight that is most remembered for the gruesome welt that appeared over Rahman's left eye, causing the fight to be stopped. And in his other effort for a title belt, he lost an excrutiatingly boring 12 round decision to John Ruiz.

Technically, Rahman does hold the WBC trinket, therefore some will call this fight for the "Heavyweight Championship of the World". While there is some dispute as to whom is the true HW champion, I am fairly certain that Rahman is not that man. I'm not trying to disparage Rahman, who is definitely a Top 10, if not Top 5, contender in the division. However, he basically won the belt by beating Monte Barrett in an elimination bout two years ago. He was the mandatory challenger to fight then Champ Vitali Klitschko, but Klitschko withdrew due to injury and subsequently retired. Rahman then inherited the WBC's belt and defended it in March against James Toney. The fight was declared a draw and Rahman retained his title. In a just world, there'd be an elimination tournament featuring Wladimir Klitschko, Nicolay Valuev, Sergei Liakhovich, Rahman, James Toney, Samuel Peter, Calvin Brock, and Lamon Brewster. But because of rival promoters and sanctioning organizations, we'll probably never see an event like that.

All that being said, this could prove to be a very interesting bout. Rahman has shown the ability to land a big punch, but can also be hurt. He was doing well in their first fight before Maskaev landed one big knockout punch, literally knocking Rahman out of the ring and into the lap of HBO commentator Jim Lampley. Maskaev does have a decent punch, but seems totally incapable of handling a big power punching heavyweight. In his biggest steps up in the division, he's lost by KO to Kirk Johnson and Lance Whitaker. And just when it looked like he'd hit rock bottom, he lost to the 300 + pound journeyman Corey Sanders (not to be confused with the South African Corrie Sanders who once KO'd Wladimir Klitschko).

Rahman would appear to have the advantage in recent competition. Maskaev has done very little to earn this shot. His only wins of note are over fighters named Sinan Sam and David Defiagbon. But somehow he's earned the distinction of being the WBC's #1 rated contender. As pedestrian as Rahman's recent fights have been, at least he's fought some of the fringe Top 20 fighters in the division. I can't find a recent Maskaev win over anybody who I'd categorize as a Top 50 Heavyweight. Nevertheless, Maskaev did fight some decent guys in the late 90's, and he should be able to carry himself against a guy like Rahman.

If you put a gun to my head and made me choose a winner, I'd pick Rahman by KO round 6 or later. I simply don't think Maskaev has what it takes to handle a big HW power-puncher. I could be wrong, and Maskaev might come out and box the fight of his life. I really don't have a strong feeling either way, other than to say I'm pulling for Maskaev to upset Rahman.

In other boxing news...

Brian Viloria was stunned on OLN's new Thursday night fights by the relatively unknown Mexican Omar Nino. This was a big shock to me. Viloria hadn't lost a professional fight in his six years since competing in the 2000 Olympic games. After the first round, it looked like it would be a typical Viloria shutout. I was so unprepared for a fight that I fast-forwarded my Tivo a couple of rounds. I was stunned when I looked at the punch stat numbers and Nino was doubling Viloria's output. I rewound back to the 2nd Round and scored 9 of the final 11 rounds for Nino, giving him a comfortable 117-111 victory on my card. Thankfully, the judges gave Nino credit with similar scores to mine. The commentators kept saying that there was a big fight on the horizon for Viloria to go to Japan and fight a unification fight with the WBA beltholder, Koki Kameda. My guess is that Viloria will get an immediate rematch with Nino. With the proper preparation, I'd give Viloria a better chance to come back and win the rematch.

Verno Phillips looked impressive in beating former fringe Welterweight contender Teddy Reid. Even at his advanced age of 36, Phillips is still a viable threat in the 154 pound division. He recently fought 10 very competitive rounds against Ike Quartey, who should have been given the decision last Saturday night at the MSG Arena against Vernon Forrest. Phillips controlled Reid for the 11 1/2 rounds before getting a stoppage victory with just 20 seconds remaining in the 12th.

Finally, the undercard fights on the PPV card seem fairly non-descript. Humberto Soto is fighting some guy named Ivan Valle. Soto is best known for decisioning Rocky Juarez last year. One of the sanctioning bodies has branded this a title eliminator. I've heard some boxing people say that Valle is a good fighter and will make for an entertaining fight. Personally, this is one of the weakest PPV co-featued bouts I've seen in quite some time.

The other undercard bout features Armando Santa Cruz, who dismantled an overmatched opponent in one round on last month's Mosley/Vargas undercard.

[dr.zoidberg]

1. What it comes down to is...

Simply put, if Rahman comes in shape, then he has a good chance of winning. If he doesn't, then he has no chance. Judging from Rahman's weight, which is 235 lbs., and the way he looked at the weight-in, I would say that Rahman is in shape. Remember, in the first Rahman-Maskaev fight, Rahman was ahead on the cards. Then he got tired, because his stupid ass didn't train, and got knocked through the ropes by Maskaev. Rahman deserved that for not training seriously for the fight and for getting tired when it mattered the most. There is no excuse for that. I don't think that Rahman will get tired in this fight, so I'll say that Rahman wins by unanimous decision.

I have been hearing positive thing about the Santa-Cruz/Diaz fight, as well as the Soto/Valle fight. You can't go wrong with four guys that don't know how to be boring. Both fights are expected to be brawls.

Nino put on a wonderful performance against Viloria. Nino simply outlanded Viloria and, at times, Viloria looked confused and hesitant in attacking Nino. Maybe Viloria was distracted somewhat by the talk of a big money match-up with Koki Kameda. That still takes nothing away from Nino's victory, however. After all, Nino beat Jorge Arce by a 1st round TKO. Oh yeah, that guy Arce just happens to be one of the best flyweights in the world.

I read on ESPN that the undercard of the Nicolai Valuev/Monte Barret fight will have Tomasz Adameck/Paul Briggs 2. The best part is that this fight will be aired on HBO. If you remember, Adameck and Briggs had a fight of the year contender last year on the undercard of the Lamon Brewster/Andrew Golota fight.

[H2O Man]

2. It could be interesting.

Both men looked good at the weigh-in. I'm sure both are in good shape. But one is old, and hasn't fought good competition in about 5 years. And Rahman is an underachiever.

Yes, he knocked Lewis out. He's big and strong. But he hasn't lived up to his potential, and it is more a psychological thing than being under-trained. If a fighter gets nervous the day of a fight, they get tired faster. If they are not relaxed in the ring, they tire. And that is a big part of Rahman's problem.

I would far prefer Rahman to win. And he really should. But he lacks two things, in my opinion. One is solid defensive skills: he is pretty easy to hit. The other thing is the mental strength that is needed to be the best heavyweight right now.

[dr.zoidberg]

3. I have a question.

"I would far prefer Rahman to win. And he really should. But he lacks two things, in my opinion. One is solid defensive skills: he is pretty easy to hit. The other thing is the mental strength that is needed to be the best heavyweight right now."

So, do any of the heavyweights out there have mental toughness? I can only think of Brewster, but I'm really not sure about anyone else.

[H2O Man]

4. Good question.

I don't have this month's Ring yet, so I'm going by the last edition's ratings, for the period ending 6-18-06. Here are some general impressions:

1- Wladimir Klitschko: No, he doesn't. I believe that he is a highly intelligent man, and that his intelligence has, from time to time, both helped and hurt him. He is a fine example of a guy who, because he doesn't relax, tends to get tired easily.

With high school athletes, we know that a 15-year old gets his sense of accomplishment largely from how others react -- his coach, his team mates, the fans. At 16, he begins to get the sense of accomplishment from both internal and external sources. At 17, he reaches a klevel of maturity thatallows him to measure internally how well he does. (Hence, a JV or varsity high school coach who screams at kids is very different that a college coach, in terms of harming vs helping a kid.)

With Klitschko, there is not that full maturity. Good that he has Emanuel Steward.

2- Hasim Rahman: A man with the tools to be, if not undefeated, very close to it. A little too muscle-bound, perhaps. But his great flaw is definitely mental strength.

3- James Toney: Very strong mentally. The fact that an old, fat Toney draws with Rahman is best understood, I think, in terms of mental toughness.

4- Sergei Liakhovich: I am at a disadvantage, as I know relatively little about him. But, from what I do know, he is perhaps the most likely one of the former USSR guys to rule the division, if he is promoted right. When you get off the floor to beat a very talented foe, it's because you have something inside.

5- Lamon Brewster: I think so. He's not a huge heavyweight, but he is skilled, very smart, and mentally tough.

6- John Ruiz: No. He lost to Roy Jones. Roy picked him because he was averaging 14 to 20 punches a round in his recent fights. If John had fought Roy with the attitude that Oscar Bonavena had against Ali in MSG, he would have won. But he was intimidated.

7- Chris Byrd: Very tough mentally, but too small, and way past his prime. He showed his mental toughness when he beat David Tua.

8- Calvin Brock: Yes. I like that he is focused on winning, and doesn't feel the need to meet the fans' expectations to an extent that makes him take stupid risks. I think that he and Liakhovich would be a great fight. I would give Brock a slight edge, because he is more active. But it would be the fight to put rumors the heavyweight division lacks talent to rest.

9- Samuel Peter: The fact that Teddy Atlas considered training him, but declined after meeting him tells me that Teddy saw a flaw in his mental strength. I trust Teddy's judgement. But I think that Peter will continue to make the division exciting, and perhaps rule it for a period of time.

10- Nicolay Valuev: I do not know enough to say one way or the other.

I'll add that there are some older guys who mature mentally. Jameel McCline always had the physical tools, but was weak mentally. He may be better now, even though his physical peek may be behind him.

The best example could be Shannon Briggs. Again, all the physical tools were there, but he used to tire out before the referee's instructions. Literally. But now, in his 30s, he is far stronger mentally than he was in his 20s. If he fights Wladimir in November, in a fight that Klitschko is thinking is a warm-up for a "big" fight, we may witness a stunning upset.

[TSIAS]

7. ..

Early on, Wladimir Klitschko got a rap for having a bad chin and no heart. I don't think his chin is all that bad. Sanders just caught him with a big left hand early and never could recover. In the Brewster fight, he just plain ran out of gas.

My biggest worry about Klitschko is about his ability to fight back. Since he's physically more talented than nearly all of his opponents, he rarely has to overcome adversity. He seems like a front-running type of fighter. With the exception of the possibly the Peter fight, he's never won fights when faced with a difficult situation. Fortunately, there's not very many fighters in today's HW division who can pose much of a threat to him.

2) Rahman- I just got around to watching the 1st Maskaev fight again. I was impressed with his ability to control a fight with his jab. I've always though of him as a brawling HW, but his skills are comparable with almost any heavyweight in the division. If he fights his fight and doesn't allow Maskaev the opportunity to land his big punch, he should be able to win an easy decision.

3) Toney- One of the most incredible fighters I've ever seen. It seems nearly impossible to hurt the man. His upcoming fight with Sam Peter is a must see. Peter would appear to be the biggest puncher ever to enter the ring with Toney.

4) Liakhovich- Like you, I haven't watched many of his fights. He's been in there with very weak opposition with the exception of Brewster and Dominick Guinn. The only other time I saw him fight was in a major PPV undercard in 2001 against a talented undefeated fighter named Friday Ahunanya.

5) Brewster- I'd agree that he's the most mentally tough HW out there. His fight against Klitschko proved that. I think he deserves another shot at a belt, but I'm not sure how many fighters would want to fight him.

I'll get to the rest later...

[H2O Man]

5. I had decided

not to buy this fight. After watching some of the pre-fight film, I'm having a harder time not ordering it.

Decisions, decisions ....

[TSIAS]

6. I ended up buying it

I was going to write about what an awful PPV this is and what a waste of money it would be to buy it. But after thinking about it, this could be an interesting, evenly matched HW fight.

Even though the undercard looks lackluster, I've read on boxing websites that the two main attractions, Soto and Santa Cruz, make for exciting fights. While I would have preferred Top Rank to package the Viloria/Soto fight on this undercard, I still think it's a decent card.

[TSIAS]

8. Maskaev wins!

For everything negative that could have been said leading up to the fight, I thoroughly enjoyed the Rahman/Maskaev main event.

I know both guys were doing a lot of plodding and holding, but this was a genuinely exciting HW fight. I won't go so far as to call Maskaev the HW champion of the world, but he'll certainly get some opportunities to be involved in big fights in the next year. I couldn't believe how poorly Rahman fought down the stretch. He kept on trying to fight Maskaev's fight. When Rahman fought from the outside and utilized his superior skills, it was a technical mismatch. The first three rounds were all Rahman and I thought the only shot Maskaev had was to land one big punch.

You have to give Maskaev credit for constantly moving forward. For a 37 year-old fighter, he was in decent condition. There were a couple of moments when I thought Maskaev was finished, but he kept on getting his second wind. I had the fight 5 rounds to 5, with 1 round even going into the 12th. I haven't seen the scorecards yet to see how badly Maskaev needed the knockdown. It would really depend on the judging criteria. Although Rahman was the busier fighter, I thought Maskaev was landing more of the scoring blows.

For Rahman, this is probably the end of the line. After getting KO'd twice by Maskaev, it will be hard for him to demand a rematch. Had he been able to finish the 12th without getting bombed, I thought it was totally possible he could eek out a decision or a draw to retain the belt.

I wasn't happy with the job Nady did in referreing the bout. He was too quick to chastise Maskaev for holding. Fortunately, as the fight went on he realized that Rahman was holding as well. I kept cringing at the thought of Maskaev losing because of a point deduction.

I know that neither of these fighters are likely to save the division. Nor can either one claim to be "The baddest man on the planet", as past HW champions have. But I was riveted by the middle and late rounds of this fight. Was it worthy of being on PPV for $49.95? Likely not. Still, I'm far more satisfied than I was after purchasing Hopkins/Tarver, Mosley/Vargas II, or any of the Taylor/Hopkins borefests.

The main event wasn't the only stunning KO on this card. Lightweight Jose Armando Santa Cruz nearly swept the first 9 rounds before getting KO'd in the 10th by relatively light-punching David Diaz. Lederman of HBO had the fight 9-0, while I had given Diaz one of the early rounds. Nevertheless, it was apparent that Diaz needed a KO to win.

[dr.zoidberg]

9. I be damned.

I guess that I'm not very good at this prediction stuff.

It never fails. Rahman had a lot going his way-a good showing against James Toney earlier this year, and a possible fight in October against Wladimir Klitsckho-and he loses.

[H2O Man]

10. I did not end up

purchasing it. I've seen a lot of Rahman's fights, and he rarely tucks his chin in. He leaves it up well above his shoulder. The only time he kept it tucked well was against Toney. Though he has been in the top 10 in the division, and surely did himself proud by winning the title, his career has nothing that would indicate he was significantly better than Oliver McCall.

[Kingofalldems]

11. So was it a KO in the 12th?

Or a decision?