By ROBERT JONES
Staff Writer FightNightNews.com
The question is: Was this or was this not a rematch? In the true definition of the word, yes, it was a rematch because it was the second time Hasim Rahman and Oleg Maskaev had squared off. But, in actuality, it had been seven years since the memorable night Maskaev launched Rahman out of the ring, on to the lap of Jim Lampley, and electing a riot.
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Rahman went on to win the heavyweight championship from Lennox Lewis in April 2001, only to lose it seven months later.
He then went on to fight in lackluster performances against Evander Holyfield (loss, remember the second head?) David Tua (draw) and John Ruiz (loss); fights he admits he thinks he could have won if he had came into the respective fights in better shape.
Rahman then went back to the drawing board, taking fights with the likes of Al Cole and Rob Calloway in a small arena in Glen Burnie, Maryland. Then in his first big fight back in November 2004, he knocked out Kali Meehan, who had just given Lamon Brewster one the toughest fights of his careers, in four rounds. |
He then fought his friend Monte Barrett for the right to fight then WBC champion Vitali Klitschko. After nothing more than 12 rounds of a glorified sparring session, Rahman was declared the winner. Hasim Rahman and Vitali Klitschko would never end up fighting, though, even after three different fight dates had been planned in 2005. Injury riddled Klitschko, interested in getting into the political world, suddenly retired. Rahman was then given the WBC title because he was the No. 1 contender.
In the only defense of his WBC title last March, he fought a draw with a 237 pound James Toney. Once again this was another fight most people in boxing, except the judges, thought Rahman deserved to win. Nevertheless, Rahman had made the full circle journey from being on top of the world, to being down, to being back up on the top again.
Maskaev had never quite reached Rahman’s success. Oleg was badly managed as a novice pro, fighting Oliver McCall in 1996 in only his sixth professional fight, resulting in a first-round KO loss. In November of 1999, Maskaev battled back, though, depositing a young undefeated professional by the name of Rahman out of the ring.
Maskaev himself would then hit a rough stretch that escalated with a self-admitting embarrassing loss to 320-pound Corey Sanders in March of 2002. Told by almost everybody to retire, he gave it a serious thought.
Serving as a sparring partner, he caught the eye of boxing manager Fred Kesch, who still thought Maskaev had a little something left in the tank. He was right. Maskaev has gone 10-0 with eight knockouts going into last
night's fight with Rahman. He showed he was fully back in his last fight (November 11th of 2005), when he took on top 10-rated slugger Sinan Samil Sam. Oleg controlled the pace from start to finish, winning a wide unanimous decision. At 37, Oleg found himself on the verge of superstardom with a win over Rahman.
"What time do we start?" That was the question asked by the obviously excited Rahman, when asked by Jay Nady if he had any questions during the pre-fight instructions. It would only be a matter of time before this pretty entertaining bout started.
In round one, Rahman started out asserting his jab that
would fair pretty well for him in the first half of the
fight. Maskaev did throw the first combination of the
round, landing a pretty solid right hand at the end of it.
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Rahman continued the second round with a very solid jab.
Rahman landed a right-left combination in the center of the ring. The fighters then collided heads, causing a slight nick above the left eye of Maskaev.
The cut wouldn't be a problem for him, as it was taken care of in the corner. |
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The third the first
round Maskaev took clearly. Maskaev landed a left
hook, a change from the right hand he had so much
success with in their first fight. However, Maskaev
also used his right hand, landing it close to the
end of the round.
Rahman got back to using his jab in rounds four and
five. After a quick start in round four with both
fighters throwing for the fences, Rahman settled
down. Rahman would walk Maskaev towards the ropes
with his jab, then try to follow it with a right
hand. When Maskaev was throwing, which wasn't often,
he was trying to load up with his right hand. With
two minutes two go in the fifth, Maskaev had some
success with a double left hook that slightly rocked
Rahman. Once again, though, Rahman went back to the
jab and he appeared to be in control.
In round six, Rahman decided to put his jab in his
pocked and brawl with Maskaev. When asked by Lampley
at the end of the fight why he abandoned the jab,
Rahman said, "I thought Maskaev was hurt so I
decided to go after him." Maskaev would take
the sixth round because of the success he had with
his right hand landing.
Maskaev would also win the seventh. It was in this
round that Lampley stated, "This fight is
becoming the same fight it was in 1999." His
statement was true. Much like their first fight,
Rahman had taken a clear early lead using his boxing
skills and jab, but he then decided to go against
what was working for him, making it a much more
difficult fight. Maskaev landed two big right hands
at the end of the round, bringing the Las Vegas
crowd at the Thomas and Mack center to its
feet.
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Perhaps realizing he should have never went away from what was working, Rahman started throwing his jab again, and he won the round.
It also helped that Rahman had a very good flurry at the end of this frame. He landed three powerful jabs and followed it by a right hand that had Maskaev stunned as he returned to his corner. |
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As round nine began, Maskaev seemed really tired as his mouth hung wide open. Maybe the end of the Cinderella story was coming to an end. Rahman took the round as Maskaev spent a lot of time on the ropes, not throwing much. When he did punch, though, he landed two straight right hands, which had Larry Merchant saying,
"I think I saw blood come out of the mouth of Rahman after one of those right
hands." However, Rahman did enough to win the round by being more active.
Once again, though, Rahman threw away what was working for him and started going for the knockout in round 10. Maskaev took advantage of this by landing a solid right hand to
Rahman's chin. Hasim, now slightly fazed, didn’t punch very much for the rest of the round. Maskaev also landed some quality body punches. At the signal for the end of the round, Rahman tried to salvage the round, but only fighting 10 seconds
wasn't enough to take the round.
Going into the championship rounds it was clear this fight was razor thin close. Maskaev started the 11th with two left hooks that stopped Rahman in his tracks, but Hasim
didn't appear to be hurt. Maskaev once again landed a left hook, but then followed it with a low blow. Jay Nady stopped the action and issued Maskaev a warning. Rahman
didn't take much time to recover and went right back to action. Maskaev ended the round by landing a solid left at the bell. After the bell, both fighters stared at each other, knowing that going into the last round, the fight was up for grabs.
Maskaev erased all doubt about whom was going to win when a right hand he threw found its way to
Rahman's face. Hasim was clearly hurt and after a follow up right hand by Maskaev, he was on the canvas. As Rahman got up, around the count of five, he was complaining to the ref. When asked later about why he was complaining, Rahman said,
"He hit me on the break." After a quick look at the videotape, it is clear Rahman
doesn't have a very big basis for his argument.
After the knockdown Rahman, held on for hopes of reaching the final bell. Rahman would almost fall out of the ring after falling forward, still feeling the effects of the knockdown blow. It
wasn't a knockdown, but Rahman was still very hurt. Maskaev then landed right hand after right hand until Nady saved an apparently helpless Rahman. At 2:17 of the final round the modern day Cinderella Man, Oleg Maskaev (now 33-5, 26
KO's), was crowned brand new WBC heavyweight champion of the world. It was a very close fight with the
judges' scorecards reading 106-103 and 105-104 in favor of Maskaev, and 106-103 in favor of Rahman. If Rahman could have won the round, it would have ended in a draw, and he would have hung on to the title.
When asked of he would be able to fight Wladimir Klitschko in November at Madison Square Garden, Maskaev said,
"I want to go home first, to Staten Island (remember he is an American citizen), and think about
it." Maskaev then revealed that he had hurt his back during training camp, which may also prevent the fight with Klitschko.
On top of still complaining about the knockout, Rahman did say (now 41-6-2, 33
KO's) he was "very disappointed." He wasn't just disappointed in himself, but he was disappointed that there are no longer any American born heavyweight champions. When asked by Merchant why he thinks that is, Rahman responded,
"American heavyweights are spoiled. They make too much money, too quick, and they get
spoiled."
One thing for sure is Maskaev was never spoiled as a fighter. If his injury
isn't too serious, he could find himself fighting in a unification match with IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
In the main support bout, Humberto Soto (40-5-2, 24 KO's) found himself up by an unbelievable eight points after only three rounds.
In the first round, Ivan Valle (25-5-1 21 KO's) was knocked down by a right hand near the end of the round. In round two, Valle was warned for a low blow early in the round. He then had two points deducted for going low again near the end of the round. Lennox Lewis suggested referee Joe Cortez deduct two points instead of the usual one because Valle was hitting low on purpose. Soto once again knocked Valle down in the third, but Valle complained that it was from a punch landing on the neck. Once again in the round, Valle found himself down, and an instant replay clearly showed this right hand did land on the back of the neck, forcing Valle to the canvas.
In round four, Soto, the man who as a featherweight gave Rocky Juarez his first lost, landed what Lampley called
"a perfect uppercut," and it was. A right hand thrown from
Soto's hiplanded flush on the face of Valle, who flopped backwards to the canvas. Referee Joe Cortez immediately stopped the fight. Soto became the No. 1 challenger for the WBC Super featherweight title, hoping to get a big money fight with the winner between Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao.
The first championship fight of the evening came in the form of a 135-pound championship fight for the interim WBC Lightweight Championship. Jose Armando Santa Cruz (23-2, 13
KO's) fought at a breathless pace, averaging well over 100 punches through the first nine rounds. Santa Cruz was well on his way to winning an easy 12 round decision when, out of nowhere, David Diaz threw a beautiful left uppercut in the 10th.
Santa Cruz repeatedly out landed and Diaz (32-1-1, 17 KO's), beating him to the punch.
Diaz' corner was understandably concerned for their fighter and it even appeared the end might be near. At the end of the ninth round his cornerman said,
You're going to need to score some knockdowns to get back in this
fight."
Many times when a fighter is down like that you hear such a plea, but it is hardly ever applied. This fight was an exception to the rule. Diaz landed his left uppercut, changing the fight dramatically, as a wobbled Santa Cruz went down as Diaz continued his attack. Santa Cruz got up, but was on very wobbly legs, and Diaz again dropped the man who had just two minutes ago been ahead by a very wide margin. Santa Cruz once again rose, but after a few punches referee Richard Steele called a halt to the bout.
In the opening bout of the HBO telecast, 2004 Olympian Vanes Martirosyan (10-0, 6
KO's) defeated Marcus Brooks by unanimous decision, despite breaking his hand in the second round. Lampley described Martirosyan as being,
"regarded as a very assertive boxer." This much was true. The Armenian Martirosyan, now living in Glendale, CA, had Brooks down late in the first round from a right hand. An accidental headbutt left a cut on the right brow of Brooks, but it
didn't really make too much of a difference. Martirosyan was perhaps a little too eager in trying to knock out Brooks the rest of the fight, but he did land more than enough left hooks and straight rights, connecting on nearly 50-percent of his power punches, to easily win the fight. The scores read 60-52 and 60-53 twice all in favor for the 154-pound Martirosyan, who later went to the hospital in order to take care of his hand. |
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