Rahman KOs Lewis: Andre de Vries at ringside
Hasim Rahman KOed Lennox Lewis in the 5th round of their heavyweight title fight at Carnival City near Johannesburg on Saturday night. A huge right hand on the chin floored Lewis, and he was counted out at 2:32 while a stunned crowd looked on. The writing was on the wall when Lewis started tiring in the 4th, with his mouth hanging open, gasping for air. Still, nothing prepared us for the suddeness of the ending. Rahman had landed a few good punches, but Lewis took them well.
Rahman had earlier landed a good right, but didn't follow up, and we wondered if he was tiring as well. It seems he wasn't. This will rank as the greatest upset of the year in my book. More detail will follow later.
Lehlohonolo Ledwaba retained his IBF junior feather title with a workmanlike performance against Carlos Contreras of Mexico. Ledwaba started well, but faded badly in the last two rounds to end of n ordinary performance by his standards.
Zolani Petelo, former IBF mini flyweight champion, struggled to shake off the effects of a one-year layoff in beating Mexico's Roberto Gomez on points over 8 rounds.
In the first fight on the Lewis vs Rahman bill, Stephanus Carr, the reigning All Africa junior welter champion, had little trouble in disposing of Canada's Darryl Sukerow in the second round. |
