Watch Lennox Lewis drop the hammer on Hasim Rahman in their highly anticipated rematch.
When Lennox Lewis first fought Hasim Rahman in April 2001, he was a 20-to-1 favorite to retain his WBC and IBF heavyweight titles and indeed filmed some scenes for the film Ocean’s Eleven in the lead-up to the contest. Rahman shocked the world with a vicious right hand shot that put Lewis down and out for a fifth-round KO.
An immediate rematch occurred later that November, with Rahman now signed to Don King Promotions. There was some legal mumbo jumbo going on when King tried to have Rahman defend his title against David Izon instead, but Lewis successfully stopped that attempt and the rematch was on for November 17, 2001 in Vegas.
Anyway, the fight itself did have yet another right hand knockout, but this time it came from the Brit. In round four, Lewis fired off a left hook-right hand combination that floored the American and had his head placed beneath the Don King Promotions crown logo. Rahman tried beating the count but he was counted out. Revenge is a dish best served cold (or so I’m told).
Watch the video at the top of the page!
Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) retired after his cuts stoppage win over Vitali Klitschko in 2003. We never did get to see a rematch of that one, which would’ve been nice. Lewis was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2009 and now works as a broadcaster for FOX. Rahman (50-9-2-1 NC, 42 KOs) did become WBC champion a few years later but lost that belt in a rematch to Oleg Maskaev in 2006, and finally retired in 2014.