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Pastimes : Boxing: The Sweet Science -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: LPS5 who wrote (3393)	4/22/2001 9:20:55 AM
From: LPS5	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10489

Lewis beaten in upset: counted out, one of the biggest upsets in boxing history Lennox Lewis was blasted away from his world titles, and probably from his dreams of occupying a towering position in the history of heavyweight boxing, when a right hand punch of brain-scrambling violence was hurled at his chin by Hasim Rahman late in the fifth round of their championship fight at Carnival City, near Johannesburg, in the early hours of Sunday morning. The blow - driven in with terrible conviction as Rahman was rising out of a slight crouch while advancing on his opponent near the ropes - was unmistakably decisive from the moment it landed. At impact, Lewis's features slackened into a blur of confusion and he was sent sprawling on to his back, with his huge arms flopping helplessly above his head. As the referee, Daniel Van der Wiele of Belgium, moved through the count, the dazed champion rolled over on his right side and groped his way on to all fours. But continuing the conflict was never a serious possibility and soon Van der Wiele was bending down to take the gumshield out of Lewis's mouth, leaving him in no doubt that his time as supreme ruler of the heavyweights was over at 2mins 32secs of that fifth round. As Rahman let out celebratory yells and cavorted about the ring, the majority of the crowd of nearly 6,000 in the Big Top arena roared their approval of the dramatic upset the 10-1 underdog from Baltimore, Maryland, had produced. It is perhaps the biggest shock the heavyweight division has known since James "Buster" Douglas stopped Mike Tyson in the 10th round in Tokyo in February 1990. Once his head had cleared, Lewis immediately insisted that he would exercise his contractual right to a return match and that he would ensure a totally different result. But the comprehensiveness of the devastation inflicted by that single, perfectly executed right must pose questions about the victim's capacity to rediscover the dominant authority that had made his hold on the WBC and IBF championships seem utterly secure. Inevitably, Rahman's deadly explosion of power stirred memories of the only other defeat the 35-year-old Lewis has suffered in a 41-fight career, the Wembley nightmare of 1994 that saw an equally sudden, equally brutal right hand give Oliver McCall a stunning second-round victory over him. He had told me at his training camp on the high veld, half-an-hour's drive from Johannesburg, that the lesson taught by McCall had cured him for life of the tendency to be complacent about any fighting assignment. Yet it was impossible for me to be persuaded that there was sense in his decision to arrive in Africa from America so late that he permitted himself just a dozen days to acclimatise to working at an altitude of nearly 6,000 feet. He said afterwards that he felt comfortable inside the ropes until the moment of calamity but that is not how it appeared from the first row at ringside. His breathing looked laboured almost as soon as the fight was properly under way and there was never convincing zest or definition about his aggression. Most experienced watchers at ringside were willing to score the first three, fairly unspectacular rounds for him. But, apart from jolting jabs, there was little that was impressive in his punching. His attempts to land clubbing, downward right hands on Rahman, who was two-and-a-half inches shorter at 6ft 2 1/2ins and more than a stone lighter at 17st, were generally mistimed. Rahman showed obvious signs of distress for a while because of a bruised swelling under his left eye that the referee attributed to an accidental head butt. However, once the 28-year-old American's corner had signalled to him that the injury would not be a problem, and that he should stay calm and press ahead with the plan they had taken to the ring, he reconfirmed earlier evidence of inner confidence. He was ready to exchange stares with Lewis, and to toss a few remarks at the giant. According to Rahman's manager, Stan Hoffman, the key to their strategy had always been to "wait until Lennox got complacent and then go at him with big right hands". By the fourth round, the challenger was ready to unleash that weapon. One overhand right, launched above an inadequate Lewis jab, was significant in a round that Rahman might well have won. All of that, of course, proved academic in the fifth. Lewis, in spite of blowing harder than he should have been, did some decent pressing in the first two minutes but, as the round neared its end, he was backed towards the ropes close to his own corner. It was not a good sign when he exposed his mouthpiece in a grin that was supposed to convince Rahman that his aggressive flurries were futile. A second or two later, with Lewis's raised arms offering untidy, ineffective protection for his head, Rahman provided the least futile act of his boxing life when he penetrated with that magnificent right-hand blast of destruction. The promotion had been billed as Thunder in Africa but few had guessed that Hasim Rahman would supply the lightning bolt.