O
ozbash
Guest
november 17th will show us if lennox has the cluster to get his title back. i doubt it somehow. good read from 2nds out...
The bottom line in the heavyweight division gets to be drawn or re-drawn on November 17 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas when champ and ex-champ square up one more time. Like it or not, for world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman he's in a "must prove" situation against the gifted Lennox Lewis, determined to show that without doubt the title belongs around his waist. Rarely has a fighter been put in this must prove framework after dropping the reigning champion with a right hand bomb in the fifth round to score a shuddering stoppage and annex the crown. As the doubts linger and materialize in editorial comment around the globe, the confidence level at Hasim Rahman's Big Bear, California training camp has flown skyward. The foundation for the champ's pre-title rematch confidence comes, yes, from the Carnival City upset result in April, but also from Rahman's widely reported psychological knockdowns of the dreadlocked one on The Jim Rome Show and on Up Close during TV head-to-heads this summer in the US. So what's made Rahman such a glib-tongued media force? Rahman's co-main guy Steve Nelson laughs knowingly at the suggestion that his 28-year-old charge has been peeking in the mind games department going into the November rematch. "You learn a lot about psychology on the streets of Baltimore," the bubbly Mr. Nelson told SecondsOut. "He's quick witted and very smart and he takes challenges personally. And he feels like winning every single battle with Lennox inside the ring and outside. So he feels he wants to win the physical battle and he's going to win the psychological battle as well. He doesn't want to give Lennox an inch." Where once fights actually began when the fighters signed to meet one another at semi-public contract signings, "now it starts at the press conferences," Nelson confirming for us that Rahman hasn't left that winning state of mind back in South Africa. "We told you last time that he was going to win the fight and he didn't have any doubts and this time we have even stronger feelings, if you can have any. And having done it once it is easier to imagine it the second time around." Of course, in winning their first fight, upset or not, a champions hubris or not, altitude ignorance or not, the reality of that brutalizing win for Rahman will be part of the mental contest that attenuates itself into the gloved contesting for domination. Only denial can aid Lewis back into anything like equivocation with Rahman. Thus the preparatory game for Lewis becomes internal revisionism and the internal game for Rahman becomes sustaining the certain knowledge of total belief. Beyond that one has to allow for the fact that Lewis is coming back directly into the lion's mouth in facing Rahman. Should Lewis have allowed for one intermediary bout before taking on Rahman? Clearly, it's a gamble, one that Lewis and trainer Emanuel Stewart feel compelled to undertake given Lewis' 36 years and the uncertainty of giving up oneâs place in line for a shot at the heavyweight title. Thus Team Lewis went to court to have his contractual rights for an immediate rematch secured. "But historically, and I have said this before, the last thing you want to do - if you got knocked cold like Lennox got knocked cold - is go back and face the guy who did it to you immediately following. I think it's a terrible mistake on his part, but he wanted it and Rock's very willing to oblige," stated Nelson. "It's best to get this over. Rock is getting a little tired of Lennox and wants to eliminate him from everyone's mindset. So when he knocks him out the second time there won't be anymore talk about Lennox." Not looking past the former champ, just expecting to win big, Team Rahman breathed a titanic sigh of relief when Mike Tyson got past another professional body in Copenhagen last week. All financial mechanisms of the Rahman camp are targeting getting Mike Tyson in a boxing ring for the glory and the mammoth pay-off such a fight would ensure. Tyson represents the Midas Man in boxing and both the champ and Lennox Lewis are essentially fighting to make that their pension securing fight of a lifetime. That's what's ultimately going to drive Rahman and Lewis into a risk-it-at-all-costs punch out, that and Lewis' fading prime, Rahman's ego-trip. Most pundits are calling for a sterile Lewis jab-feast, defined by lateral defensive counter punches behind his all-time great left lead. Rahman might be forced to hustle forward and play more of the puncher than he's typically comfortable with. But the Tyson factor may just displace reason. All of that consideration for a guy who's now 240lbs, fighting face first and daring someone to slug and be slugged. "Obviously we were very happy that Mike Tyson was able to win. Ah... we just hope that he decides not to take all of these tune up fights that he says he's looking for before he gets to fight Rock in a championship fight. Because I tell ya, anything could happen to Mike Tyson right now. He definitely not the Mike Tyson that was destroying people." Naturally, now the headline that's not been written yet, one impressing itself in the minds of fighters such as Hasim Rahman and Kirk Johnson and Wladimir Klitschko has to be the fighters of the early 1990s are at last ready to be taken, beaten and retired. Caution and conservation such as Kirk Johnson typically utilizes must now give way to daring and decisiveness. Team Rahman are committed to such a course of action. "I think this is a very good thing for the sport. Taking our situation -- we had the 1990s with Tyson and Holyfield and Moorer, Bowe at the beginning, Rock is leading the new generation. The guys we really have to worry about are some of the guys who are coming up behind him not the guys who blazed the trail ahead of him. There are some good young fighters out there who will prove very tough opposition. And those are the fighters who we have to worry about more than the older generation. All of whom are ready for retirement as soon as they meet Rock in the ring." It's as if the stone has indeed been tossed into the big pond and the ripples are covering the waters for all those mid and late Thirty-somethings. Lewis and Tyson and even Holyfield are prepared to contest that point of view and yet the window open upon that assertion of the possible is indeed narrowing to a mere slit. "Well, we were prepared to fight Kirk before and he walked away before the fight was even made. We were ready for Johnson. Klitschko is the tough guy, there's no doubt about that. And, in the WBA situation, I kinda believe that in the Holyfield-Ruiz fight I am predicting a very close victory for Holyfield. Very close, very close! I just think that he's a guy who rises to challenges and he's looking for one last hurrah. âIn fact, we would like to see that happen... anything can happen (with regards to a Rahman-WBA unification bout instead of Johnson mandatory) and we know that in boxing money talks. There will be more money in a Rahman unification bout in the winner of Holyfield-Ruiz than there would be in Kirk Johnson fighting the winner. (And) I don't want to get into that (Johnson step aside scenario) because it is a bit premature, but I think that when the public wants to see something, and there's demand, it usually happens." We might take that as prologue or warning or prediction, but it sounds good for Rahman and, by extension, possibly good for Lewis as well, should he win, and stormy weather on the horizon for Kirk Johnson. No doubt Don King who promotes both Holyfield and Rahman would love to make that unification bout and, in a sense, that must stand as Holyfield's mantra going into a proposed late November, early December WBA title fight. "After we knock out Lewis then all the fights are out there and we will be ready for all of them, one at a time." There's such a feeling of inevitable progression in Team Rahman. And yet many are sceptical - at best caught up in a suspension of disbelief they expect Lewis to release them from - with regards to Rahman being "the man" in heavyweight boxing. The supersonic failures of Michael Grant and David Tua and implosions of Andrew Golota and Ike Ibeabuchi has spray bombed this generation of contenders as a messed up lot of athletic mediocrity running the institution of the big boys. He has said consistently that he wants to fight the winner of Rahman-Lewis for the championship. (Tyson's Copenhagen admission) was a little shocking to us. I think he's a guy who's starting to have doubts about his own abilities. A confident fighter wants the biggest fight out there to go right to the top and isn't happy with anything in between." Having just completed his second week and now working into his third week, Rahman tries to keep his focus on the rematch. Talk mostly circles around fighters anyway, the play and contortions of contention and disputation being left for others. Having begun with light workouts in Baltimore with Adrian Davis 10 days after his title winning performance, and taking it up to the Catskills, the champ's been trying to keep to his "normal normal" throughout an obviously convulsive late summer. The Catskills at 4,000 feet above sea level was good prep time before moving shop to Big Bear at 5,000 feet. The target range for his weight, according to Steve Nelson will be 235 to 240 for the fight. "In that range that's a very much in shape Rahman." Early to mid-training camp mean sparring sessions get intense and the simulation workouts are worked on. The idea of conditioning turns to the purposes of specific performance standards and technical preparedness. Rahman's no longer in the sound studios; Lewis is himself carving out the details for his intended resurrection. Each knows most of the mysteries of the other and are absolutely sure that they have held more than enough in reserve to astound the other. Lewis has been saying that Rahman was lucky to land his title winning right hand and that he's not faced the real Lennox Lewis yet, but will on November 17 in Las Vegas. Rahman's still smiling at having pulled the trick once and suspects Lewis was in the ring with him last time. No wonder Team Rahman are making plans and weighing all aspects carefully during this the Rahman
The bottom line in the heavyweight division gets to be drawn or re-drawn on November 17 at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas when champ and ex-champ square up one more time. Like it or not, for world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman he's in a "must prove" situation against the gifted Lennox Lewis, determined to show that without doubt the title belongs around his waist. Rarely has a fighter been put in this must prove framework after dropping the reigning champion with a right hand bomb in the fifth round to score a shuddering stoppage and annex the crown. As the doubts linger and materialize in editorial comment around the globe, the confidence level at Hasim Rahman's Big Bear, California training camp has flown skyward. The foundation for the champ's pre-title rematch confidence comes, yes, from the Carnival City upset result in April, but also from Rahman's widely reported psychological knockdowns of the dreadlocked one on The Jim Rome Show and on Up Close during TV head-to-heads this summer in the US. So what's made Rahman such a glib-tongued media force? Rahman's co-main guy Steve Nelson laughs knowingly at the suggestion that his 28-year-old charge has been peeking in the mind games department going into the November rematch. "You learn a lot about psychology on the streets of Baltimore," the bubbly Mr. Nelson told SecondsOut. "He's quick witted and very smart and he takes challenges personally. And he feels like winning every single battle with Lennox inside the ring and outside. So he feels he wants to win the physical battle and he's going to win the psychological battle as well. He doesn't want to give Lennox an inch." Where once fights actually began when the fighters signed to meet one another at semi-public contract signings, "now it starts at the press conferences," Nelson confirming for us that Rahman hasn't left that winning state of mind back in South Africa. "We told you last time that he was going to win the fight and he didn't have any doubts and this time we have even stronger feelings, if you can have any. And having done it once it is easier to imagine it the second time around." Of course, in winning their first fight, upset or not, a champions hubris or not, altitude ignorance or not, the reality of that brutalizing win for Rahman will be part of the mental contest that attenuates itself into the gloved contesting for domination. Only denial can aid Lewis back into anything like equivocation with Rahman. Thus the preparatory game for Lewis becomes internal revisionism and the internal game for Rahman becomes sustaining the certain knowledge of total belief. Beyond that one has to allow for the fact that Lewis is coming back directly into the lion's mouth in facing Rahman. Should Lewis have allowed for one intermediary bout before taking on Rahman? Clearly, it's a gamble, one that Lewis and trainer Emanuel Stewart feel compelled to undertake given Lewis' 36 years and the uncertainty of giving up oneâs place in line for a shot at the heavyweight title. Thus Team Lewis went to court to have his contractual rights for an immediate rematch secured. "But historically, and I have said this before, the last thing you want to do - if you got knocked cold like Lennox got knocked cold - is go back and face the guy who did it to you immediately following. I think it's a terrible mistake on his part, but he wanted it and Rock's very willing to oblige," stated Nelson. "It's best to get this over. Rock is getting a little tired of Lennox and wants to eliminate him from everyone's mindset. So when he knocks him out the second time there won't be anymore talk about Lennox." Not looking past the former champ, just expecting to win big, Team Rahman breathed a titanic sigh of relief when Mike Tyson got past another professional body in Copenhagen last week. All financial mechanisms of the Rahman camp are targeting getting Mike Tyson in a boxing ring for the glory and the mammoth pay-off such a fight would ensure. Tyson represents the Midas Man in boxing and both the champ and Lennox Lewis are essentially fighting to make that their pension securing fight of a lifetime. That's what's ultimately going to drive Rahman and Lewis into a risk-it-at-all-costs punch out, that and Lewis' fading prime, Rahman's ego-trip. Most pundits are calling for a sterile Lewis jab-feast, defined by lateral defensive counter punches behind his all-time great left lead. Rahman might be forced to hustle forward and play more of the puncher than he's typically comfortable with. But the Tyson factor may just displace reason. All of that consideration for a guy who's now 240lbs, fighting face first and daring someone to slug and be slugged. "Obviously we were very happy that Mike Tyson was able to win. Ah... we just hope that he decides not to take all of these tune up fights that he says he's looking for before he gets to fight Rock in a championship fight. Because I tell ya, anything could happen to Mike Tyson right now. He definitely not the Mike Tyson that was destroying people." Naturally, now the headline that's not been written yet, one impressing itself in the minds of fighters such as Hasim Rahman and Kirk Johnson and Wladimir Klitschko has to be the fighters of the early 1990s are at last ready to be taken, beaten and retired. Caution and conservation such as Kirk Johnson typically utilizes must now give way to daring and decisiveness. Team Rahman are committed to such a course of action. "I think this is a very good thing for the sport. Taking our situation -- we had the 1990s with Tyson and Holyfield and Moorer, Bowe at the beginning, Rock is leading the new generation. The guys we really have to worry about are some of the guys who are coming up behind him not the guys who blazed the trail ahead of him. There are some good young fighters out there who will prove very tough opposition. And those are the fighters who we have to worry about more than the older generation. All of whom are ready for retirement as soon as they meet Rock in the ring." It's as if the stone has indeed been tossed into the big pond and the ripples are covering the waters for all those mid and late Thirty-somethings. Lewis and Tyson and even Holyfield are prepared to contest that point of view and yet the window open upon that assertion of the possible is indeed narrowing to a mere slit. "Well, we were prepared to fight Kirk before and he walked away before the fight was even made. We were ready for Johnson. Klitschko is the tough guy, there's no doubt about that. And, in the WBA situation, I kinda believe that in the Holyfield-Ruiz fight I am predicting a very close victory for Holyfield. Very close, very close! I just think that he's a guy who rises to challenges and he's looking for one last hurrah. âIn fact, we would like to see that happen... anything can happen (with regards to a Rahman-WBA unification bout instead of Johnson mandatory) and we know that in boxing money talks. There will be more money in a Rahman unification bout in the winner of Holyfield-Ruiz than there would be in Kirk Johnson fighting the winner. (And) I don't want to get into that (Johnson step aside scenario) because it is a bit premature, but I think that when the public wants to see something, and there's demand, it usually happens." We might take that as prologue or warning or prediction, but it sounds good for Rahman and, by extension, possibly good for Lewis as well, should he win, and stormy weather on the horizon for Kirk Johnson. No doubt Don King who promotes both Holyfield and Rahman would love to make that unification bout and, in a sense, that must stand as Holyfield's mantra going into a proposed late November, early December WBA title fight. "After we knock out Lewis then all the fights are out there and we will be ready for all of them, one at a time." There's such a feeling of inevitable progression in Team Rahman. And yet many are sceptical - at best caught up in a suspension of disbelief they expect Lewis to release them from - with regards to Rahman being "the man" in heavyweight boxing. The supersonic failures of Michael Grant and David Tua and implosions of Andrew Golota and Ike Ibeabuchi has spray bombed this generation of contenders as a messed up lot of athletic mediocrity running the institution of the big boys. He has said consistently that he wants to fight the winner of Rahman-Lewis for the championship. (Tyson's Copenhagen admission) was a little shocking to us. I think he's a guy who's starting to have doubts about his own abilities. A confident fighter wants the biggest fight out there to go right to the top and isn't happy with anything in between." Having just completed his second week and now working into his third week, Rahman tries to keep his focus on the rematch. Talk mostly circles around fighters anyway, the play and contortions of contention and disputation being left for others. Having begun with light workouts in Baltimore with Adrian Davis 10 days after his title winning performance, and taking it up to the Catskills, the champ's been trying to keep to his "normal normal" throughout an obviously convulsive late summer. The Catskills at 4,000 feet above sea level was good prep time before moving shop to Big Bear at 5,000 feet. The target range for his weight, according to Steve Nelson will be 235 to 240 for the fight. "In that range that's a very much in shape Rahman." Early to mid-training camp mean sparring sessions get intense and the simulation workouts are worked on. The idea of conditioning turns to the purposes of specific performance standards and technical preparedness. Rahman's no longer in the sound studios; Lewis is himself carving out the details for his intended resurrection. Each knows most of the mysteries of the other and are absolutely sure that they have held more than enough in reserve to astound the other. Lewis has been saying that Rahman was lucky to land his title winning right hand and that he's not faced the real Lennox Lewis yet, but will on November 17 in Las Vegas. Rahman's still smiling at having pulled the trick once and suspects Lewis was in the ring with him last time. No wonder Team Rahman are making plans and weighing all aspects carefully during this the Rahman

I think he will be more prepared this time, im tipping him to come out with points.