"It’s definitely a dream come true.
What it meant to me is that I’m on the top
of the boxing world and what comes along with that is responsibility.
My responsibility
is to dismiss this whole Buster Douglas thing.” Hasim
Rahman
BY
ANDRE COURTEMANCHE
Fightnews.com
WBC, IBF, and IBO Heavyweight Champion Hasim "The Rock" Rahman, 35-2 (29), delivered his rebuttal yesterday to the controversial remarks made by Lennox Lewis and company on Tuesday. Rahman also says he has a surprise in store if Lewis is training to beat the Rahman he met in South Africa.
From almost plunging off the cliff of obscurity only a few short years ago, he now sits atop the heavyweights with a calm and unflappable contentment. If the pre-fight demeanor of both men is an indication of how the rematch will go: advantage Rahman.
Emanuel Steward said you were about to quit in your first
fight with Lennox when you happened to land a lucky punch. Is
that true?
No, I told Emanuel that with the blood coming in my eye,
I didn’t know how long the fight would go, so I had to
make my move right then and there. I was looking to fight a
round or two. Lennox was under pressure and the fight was going
twelve, so I was trying to stop the fight in the next round
or two, similar to what I saw James Toney do in a fight before.
His eye was cut, or swollen or something and the ref said I’ll
give you one more round.
I was really just thinking ahead of myself, like the ref is going to see this blood getting in my eye and he’s going to tell me he’s going to stop the fight, so I was under the impression that the fight would be stopped because the blood was directly going in my eye. I was just telling him what I was under the impression of. I never told him I would quit. That’s just a ploy he used to motivate Lennox Lewis, among other things.
The last fight was even when the knockout came. Will this
one be as close, or have you totally solved his style?
I believe I’ll get a little more credit this time for
the things I do and I think the judges will look at it a little
more evenly, so if I am outjabbing him and outpunching him,
I think I’ll get a little more credit. I plan on doing
that. I definitely won’t let him outpunch me, or outjab
me.
What has life been like for you as champion?
I just felt like when I won the title, there were a lot
of responsibilities I had to accept and I’ve never been
in that position before. To me, that was just part of the responsibility.
I think it’s better that I was in court and in bed on time,
than if I just had a wild, you know party setup in Hollywood
and going to all the parties and being distracted that way.
To me, I look at it as a good distraction. It really motivated
me for this fight.
(To Rahman’s managers) Stan (Hoffman) and Steve (Nelson),
has the fact that Hasim spent the last seven months in court
been a positive because he couldn’t get distracted?
(Steve Nelson) One thing is for sure; I’m going to
agree completely with Rock. He tried to make a gentleman’s
deal with Lennox Lewis about taking the interim fight and then
fighting Lennox, but Lennox forced Rock and the rest of the
team into the courtroom. I know Rock is so motivated to once
again do away with Lennox and retire him once and for all. In
that respect, it was absolutely a positive.
(Stan Hoffman) It’s negative when you hear about it, and once you get into it, you just have to deal with it, so I don’t believe it’s negative, or it’s positive. Nothing has detoured us from our ultimate goal and quite frankly, you are going to see something very special come that date.
What does being Heavyweight Champion mean to you?
It’s definitely a dream come true. What it meant to
me is that I’m on the top of the boxing world and what
comes along with that is responsibility. My responsibility is
to dismiss this whole Buster Douglas thing. I think Buster Douglas
lost that fight in training, which he wasn’t doing. From
the weigh-in you’ll see a big difference in the way I trained
and the way I’m presented and the way he was. I think it’s
the responsibility of the champ to come fully prepared every
time and no excuses.
Lennox has given quite a different version of your fight
and indicated that he chased you around the studio during your
scuffle on ESPN, what do you think about that?
(Laughs) My answer is that you saw the fight and you know
that this man has things completely misunderstood. You saw the
first fight, so that’s the credibility. The referee counted
to 10. He could have counted to 20 and not been able to continue.
As far as him chasing me anywhere that’s just lunacy. This
man is ridiculous.
(Steve Nelson) One of the things that Manny Steward said was that all the chasing went on after the cameras, but Manny Steward wasn’t even in attendance that day. Lennox wasn’t the one saying it; it was Manny.
Was the punch you hit Lennox with the best punch you have
ever hit anyone with?
I would say it was the one that most counted! (Laughs) It
doesn’t matter if I landed punches like that one coming
up. They didn’t count for anything. I think I was in the
biggest situation in front of me and I prepared well and answered
the test.
Did you get the feeling that Lennox didn’t respect
your jab in the first fight?
The thing about it is that even though he’s aware of
it this time, there’s nothing he can do to stop it.
Could you describe this training camp as opposed to the
camp for the first fight?
I’m using the same guys I used the last time, partly
because they prepared me well and secondly because I can cross-reference
with them where I was and what I was able to do in the first
fight as opposed to this fight. It’s head and shoulders
in the direction of the more things I can do and the easier
I can handle him. I just feel like I’m getting better.
The facilities that I had and everything that is available to
me is better this time. Plus, I’m able to do all these
things at altitude and the benefit of training at altitude this
time is that I don’t have to fight in the altitude. I think
that’s also an asset that has fallen heavily in my favor.
(Steve Nelson) Everything we’ve heard from the other side is that they’re going to do things better than they did the first time around, which is kind of expected. But what they don’t anticipate is that everything we did the first time right, we’re doing better ourselves this time, so the end result is going to be the same, maybe a little quicker.
You’ve said that losing to Maskaev was the turning
point in your career and you are quite thankful to him for beating
you. Would you explain that please?
He just really opened my eyes to really train hard and know
that I just can’t look at an opponent and say oh, I can
beat him, or I can’t beat him. It’s more than just
looking at guys on paper and saying you can do this or that,
you have to go out and train. You have to train hard like every
fight is a world title fight. I believe that I started doing
that after the Maskaev fight because there’s no way I believe
that the man could beat me. When he beat me, he humiliated me
and made me dig deep down. From then on, I said if I lose a
fight I couldn’t be heavyweight champion of the world.
There’s no use me even going through this.
I don’t want to be anybody’s opponent, so from then on, I fought Marion Wilson and Corrie Sanders. Before the Sanders fight, I said that if I couldn’t beat Corrie Sanders, there was no use me even boxing. That would’ve shown me I can’t be champ and I meant it. I really got to thank Maskaev for changing my work rate and my mental state about boxing.
Should Lewis be thanking you?
I don’t think Lewis under-trained as much as he said
he did. Say he did spend two or three days on the set; I was
sick for four days. I had bruised ribs going into the fight
where I couldn’t spar some days. People made a big deal
out of that. Another thing, Lennox is training for the guy that
showed up in South Africa. I could beat that guy that showed
up in South Africa right now! I’m past that, let him go
and get ready for that guy in South Africa.
Do you think he believes the things he’s been saying,
or is it just what is being told to him?
I think it’s definitely being told to him. Everything
he does is scripted. That’s why when you get him past whatever
the initial conversation is; he’s lost. He’s not prepared
for that. That’s why I like to take the conversation elsewhere.
How has it been working with Don King?
I haven’t had any fights with him yet, so I can’t
make any comment on what he shorted me, or took, or whatever.
I don’t have any complaints thus far. I think he’s
promoted better than I’ve been promoted thus far. There’s
a significant difference in the turnout (at Don King fights)
as opposed to what I’m used to my entire career. So far;
so good.
Is it frustrating for you to hear Lennox say his feet were
tangled up, the count was short, he wasn’t out, etc.?
I would think it would be more frustrating for whoever is
asking the question because I’m sure that they saw the
fight. I think they’re not giving y’all credit for
intelligence and not being able to see. I hit him with right
hands all night long, so I felt like one would get through and
do damage and that’s just what happened. The man counted
ten. He counted ten. He counted ten, then came on television
and said he counted ten. As far as I’m concerned the stories
he’s telling are an outright lie.
Does it bother you that Lewis called you an imbecile?
He respects me inside. I know he respects me inside. Whatever
he leads on to the media, it’s really not important. What’s
important is that I get that respect in the ring. He can refer
to me whatever he likes outside the ring. That’s what he
thinks, good for him. In that ring, you’re going to see
me get my respect. The answer is yes, it’s important for
me to get respect from him inside the ring. Other than that,
he can do what he wants.
In Part 2, Rahman continues to refuse to let Lennox Lewis’ pre-fight comments rattle him. He also talks about the end of his career and what he’ll end up doing.