Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир Вол� ...

vs.

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 WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC t ...

, billed as "X-Plosive", was a professional boxing match contested on 13 December 2008 for the

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

, WBO, and IBO heavyweight championship.

Background

After unifying the IBF & WBO title by defeating

Sultan Ibragimov Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (russian: Султан-Ахмед Магомедсалихович Ибрагимов, av, Султан-АхӀмад МухӀаммадсалихӀазул вас Ибрагьимов; born 8 March 1975 ...

, Wladimir Klitschko made one title defence against WBO mandatory challenger Tony Thompson before agreeing to face his IBF mandatory Alexander Povetkin. In October 2008 Povetkin withdrew with a leg injury, and with the second and third ranked contenders Alexander Dimitrenko and

Chris Arreola Cristobal Arreola (born March 5, 1981) is an American professional boxer who has challenged three times for the WBC heavyweight title. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's No.8 heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and as No.7 heavyweight fro ...

unavailable, Klitschko agreed to face former unified champion and fourth ranked IBF contender Hasim Rahman. Before agreeing to face Klitschko, Rahman had won four of his five fights since losing his WBC title in a close fight to

Oleg Maskaev Oleg Alexandrovich Maskayev (russian: Олег Александрович Маскаев; also Maskaev; born 2 March 1969) is a Russian-American former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2 ...

, the fifth was a no contest with

James Toney James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1 ...

. He was the NABF continental champion, having defeated

Zuri Lawrence Zuri Lawrence (born June 22, 1970) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2009. He is most well-known for having never scored a knockout win in 44 professional fights. Career Lawrence has never fought for a major heavyweigh ...

for the title in 2007, and was retroactively ranked the world's 9th best heavyweight that year by BoxRec. He was also ranked within the top ten by both the IBF and WBO, and 12th by the WBC. He was aiming to join Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield, and Lennox Lewis as the only boxers ever to win a heavyweight title on three or more occasions. On the undercard, former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Riddick Bowe fought what would turn out to be the final fight of his career, beating journeyman

Gene Pukall Gene Pukall, (born 16 January 1975 in Berlin, Germany) is a German professional boxer fighting in the heavyweight division. Debut Pukall turned professional in April 2000 in the Neuruppin, Brandenburg, Germany Germany,, officially ...

by an 8-round unanimous decision.

The fight

Klitschko dominated the fight winning every round on the scorecards (two judges had it 60-53, the third scored it 60-47), scoring a knockdown the 6th round with a series of jabs followed by a right hand to the chin of Rahman who survived before referee Tony Weeks ended the fight in the seventh round. According to

CompuBox CompuBox is the name of a computerized punches scoring system run by two operators. CompuBox is used in boxing matches around the world. Background The system is based on a computer program, originally named FightStat, developed by Jon Gibbs in ...

Klitschko landed 178 punches with 48% accuracy, against Rahman's 30 punches with 14% accuracy.

Aftermath

After his victory, Klitschko agreed to face former unified cruiserweight champion

David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Ama ...

in Germany in June 2009, however, Haye pulled out and was replaced by the WBA "Champion In recess"

Ruslan Chagaev Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev ( tt-Cyrl, Руслан Шамил улы Чагаев; uz, Ruslan Shamilovich Chagayev; russian: Руслан Шамилович Чагаев); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who c ...

. Rahman would spend 15 months out of the ring after this fight before returning to knockout his next five opponents before losing in two rounds to Povetkin. He would retire after a decision loss to the unknown Anthony Nansen in June 2014.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klitschko, Rahman 2008 in boxing International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches December 2008 sports events in Germany Sports competitions in Mannheim Boxing matches in Germany 2008 in German sport Rahman

Klitschko Vitali Klitschko (born 19 July 1971) and Wladimir Klitschko (born 25 March 1976), known as the Klitschko Brothers, are Ukrainian former professional boxers. During their peak years between 2004 and 2015, they were considered the dominant world he ...

Pukall Boxing on HBO Boxing on Sky Sports