Lennox Lewis vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "Thunder in Africa", was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between unified WBC, IBF, IBO, and lineal champion

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a former professional boxer and boxing commentator who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and the last heavyweight to hol ...

, and

Hasim Rahman Hasim Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified World Boxing Council, WBC, International Boxing Federation, ...

. The bout took place on 22 April 2001 in

Brakpan Brakpan is a mining town in the Gauteng province of South Africa. History The name Brakpan comes from a small pan on a farm called Weltevreden, which was filled with very brackish water and was probably referred to as the "brakpan," and it was nea ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Rahman, who was a 20–1 underdog, won by knockout in the fifth round. It was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

Background

Following three successful title defenses in 2000, Lennox Lewis turned his sights on a potential superfight with

Mike Tyson Michael Gerard Tyson (born June 30, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2005. Nicknamed "Iron Mike" and "Kid Dynamite" in his early career, and later known as "The Baddest Man on the Planet", Tyson is con ...

. Lewis had originally hoped to meet Tyson during the summer of 2001, however, Tyson was issued a three-month suspension early in the year after testing positive for marijuana following his 2000 fight with

Andrew Golota Andrzej Jan Gołota (; born 5 January 1968), best known as Andrew Golota, is a Polish former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2013. He challenged four times for a heavyweight world title (by all four major sanctioning bodies), and as ...

. Lewis opted to make his next defense against little-known Hasim Rahman. Lewis came into the fight as a 20–1 favorite and paid little attention to his opponent, having begun negotiations for his long-awaited match with Tyson while also being challenged to a possible unification match by WBA heavyweight champion

John Ruiz John Ruiz (born January 4, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a w ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

, South Africa, is 5,200 feet above sea level. Rahman arrived on 27 March so he would have time to adjust to the high altitude, but Lewis didn't arrive until 10 April. Lewis trained in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Veg ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

, which is 2,000 feet above sea level. He trained in Las Vegas so he could also film scenes for a cameo appearance in the movie ''

Ocean's Eleven ''Ocean's Eleven'' is a 2001 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Ted Griffin. The first installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy, it is a remake of the 1960 Rat Pack film of the same name. The ...

''. Notwithstanding the altitude challenges, the actual fight itself took place at an odd time, 05:00 (

SAST South African Standard Time (SAST) is the time zone used by all of South Africa as well as Eswatini and Lesotho. The zone is two hours ahead of UTC ( UTC+02:00) and is the same as Central Africa Time. Daylight saving time is not observed in ...

) on Sunday 22 April 2001 in order to accommodate HBO's significant United States-based audience at a reasonable hour on Saturday 21 April 2001. After Lewis was knocked out by Rahman, HBO commentator

Larry Merchant Larry Merchant (born Larry Kaufman; February 11, 1931) is an American sportswriter, a longtime commentator for HBO sports presentations of ''HBO World Championship Boxing'', ''Boxing After Dark'' and HBO pay-per-view telecasts, called "the grea ...

said, "He just drowned in ''Ocean's Eleven''."

The fight

The two fighters fought a close first four rounds, though Lewis was ahead on all three judges' scorecards by the score of 39–37, having won rounds two through four while Rahman was able to win the fight's opening round. By the fourth round, Rahman had become the aggressor, throwing 60 punches to Lewis' 33, though each man landed 20 and Lewis was able to narrowly win the round. In the fifth round, Lewis threw few punches, instead stalking Rahman throughout the round in an attempt to size up Rahman in order to land a knockout blow, but Rahman was able to successfully defend himself and avoided taking any power punches from Lewis. With 46 seconds remaining in the round, Rahman was able to turn the tables and used his jab to back Lewis into the ropes. Shortly after that exchange, Lewis momentarily dropped his gloves to his side, allowing Rahman to quickly land a strong right hand that dropped Lewis to the mat. Lewis was unable to get back to his feet and Rahman was announced the winner by knockout, becoming the new heavyweight champion.

Aftermath

Following his upset victory, Rahman became an overnight sensation. Less than a month after his victory, Rahman signed a $5 million deal with influential promoter Don King. Shortly before joining King's stable, cable giants HBO and Showtime entered into negotiations with Rahman in an attempt to get exclusive rights to air his fights. Showtime offered Rahman an estimated $19.25 million to sign with them and face their premier fighter Mike Tyson in the first defense of his newly won titles, while HBO offered Rahman $17 million to instead face Lewis in a rematch, but Rahman turned down both offers and instead agreed to a match with Danish fighter Brian Nielsen that would earn him an additional $5 million. The Rahman–Nielsen fight fell through, however, and it was announced in June that Rahman would defend his titles against

David Izon David Izonritei (born 29 April 1968) is a Nigerian former boxer. Also known as David Izon, Izonritei won the Heavyweight silver medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics. During his professional career, he defeated world title challengers ...

. Lewis, however, had a rematch clause in his contract and went to court in hopes of gaining his rematch with Rahman and in June, a judge ruled in Lewis' favor, giving him the legal right to face Rahman for the titles. In August, both sides were able to reach an agreement and the rematch was announced for 17 November 2001 in Las Vegas. Lewis avenged the defeat, regaining the heavyweight titles via fourth-round knockout.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Rahman Rahman 1 2001 in boxing Boxing on HBO Boxing in South Africa Sport in Gauteng 2001 in South African sport World Boxing Council heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches April 2001 sports events in Africa Nicknamed sporting events