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Hasim Rahman Boxing Glove Autograph
Former Heavyweight World Champion Hasim Rahman
Everlast boxing Glove Autograph. The man who sensationally
knocked out Lennox Lewis in South Africa. Only to lose the
rematch. This wonderful item comes complete with our Certificate
of Authenticity and a photograph of Rahman at the signing,
plus all the attached security holograms, so you can be
rest assured you are buying a genuine autograph. 
Hasim Rahman
£45.00
One can take most stereotypes about how boxers
are usually raised and what they are like-and what a former
heavyweight champion of the world might be like-and throw
them out the window when it comes to Hasim "The Rock"
Rahman. His story is unique. Born into a lower-middle-class
family in Baltimore on Nov. 7, 1972, Rahman's father was
an engineer, and his mother worked as well. He was the second-oldest
child growing up in a family with eight brothers and three
sisters.
He inherited his father's gift for mathematics
and quickly put it to good use earning straight As after
entering elementary school in Cherry Hill, Md. In fact,
he was often asked to move up with students from the next
grade.
"I was a nerd from kindergarten until
third grade," Rahman says with a grin, "but I
got beat up a lot by older kids."
Rahman explains that when his teachers sent
him to the next grade to provide more challenges for him
in subjects where he excelled, the older boys took that
as a slight, and the inevitable schoolyard fights ensued.
After completion of the second grade, Rahman
moved to West Baltimore and decided to change his personality
to help cope with the trouble he was having at school.
"I made a conscious decision to change
my attitude; to become a bad boy to change my image, so
I wouldn't get picked on," Rahman said. "I excelled
at my new school, but the group I was hanging with didn't
think it was cool to study."
Rahman added, "They [the school] even
wanted me to join a program for gifted students, but I didn't
do it because I was afraid that what happened in Cherry
Hill might happen again."
As he grew older, Rahman "started doing
what the bad guys do." This included fighting, riding
in stolen cars and staying away from school. He dropped
out of school in the 11th grade. Most of his friends were
dropouts, too.
"My dad owned an engineering company,
so I felt like I had a safety net once I decided to get
off the streets," Rahman said.
Everything changed for Rahman when he turned
18.
"I had a son and that was a wake-up call
for me. My mom always told me I was going to be somebody,
and I felt I had to do better for my son."
Rahman added, cryptically: "I had a child
because I didn't think I was going to live to see 21. I
wanted to just have my son before I died, but once he got
here it changed my life. I knew I couldn't leave him stranded."
Rahman received his high school equivalency
diploma and enrolled at the Community College of Baltimore.
"I took some remedial courses because
I knew I had to start somewhere," the future champion
said. "I felt God was with me, even in the bad times."
He still had yet to put on a pair of boxing
gloves.
In an unusual twist, Rahman was challenged
by a neighborhood boxer to what Rahman calls a "body-punching
contest."
"I got the better of him and he said
I should stop by the Mack Lewis Gym. I'll never forget what
he said to me. 'You could make a million bucks.'"
The statement by the neighborhood boxer turned
out to be prophetic.
Rahman went to the gym, and he's been there
ever since. His first pro fight took place on Dec. 3, 1994,
days after Rahman turned 20. He made up for lost time by
winning a stunning 29 bouts in a row and the United States
Boxing Association and International Boxing Federation Intercontinental
heavyweight titles.
His titles were on the line when he stepped
between the ropes to face New Zealander David Tua on Dec.
19, 1998. Rahman had won virtually every round in the fight
heading into the ninth round. Tua had a strong ninth round,
but his zeal continued after the bell when he hit Rahman
with his vaunted left hook, a clear violation of the rules.
In what should have been ruled a foul where
points could have been deducted, or, at the least, Rahman
should been granted up to five minutes to recover. No points
were deducted, and Rahman only received the standard one-minute
rest period before answering the bell for round 10.
Rahman came out understandably unsettled after
taking the illegal punch from Tua. Soon thereafter the referee
inexplicably waived off the action in what most ringside
observers felt was a premature stoppage, as Rahman appeared
to have regained his composure. To add insult to injury,
Rahman was clearly winning the fight on the judges' scorecards,
and, in boxing, no one is supposed to win a bout with an
illegal punch or foul.
Rahman won his next two fights by knockout
before learning one of the most important lessons of his
boxing career against Oleg Maskaev on Nov. 6, 1999, in Atlantic
City, N.J.
"I saw Maskaev when he was knocked out
by Oliver McCall in the first round in Virginia, so I thought
it was going to be an easy fight, and I didn't train as
hard as I should have," Rahman said.
Rahman began the fight well, winning most
of the rounds. In the seventh round, his lack of pre-fight
preparation began to show, and Maskaev made the most of
it. In round eight, Maskaev hit Rahman with a punch that
pushed him through the ropes and out of the ring. To make
matters worse, Rahman's head hit the hard floor of the Atlantic
City Convention Center, and he was unable to return to the
ring within the allotted time period, losing by technical
knockout.
"I thoroughly underestimated him, and
I paid the price," Rahman said. "But I learned
a valuable lesson: Never underestimate your opponent."
With only two losses in 33 fights, Rahman
entered the 21st century and picked up three successive
wins, which earned him a title shot against the reigning
World Boxing Council, IBF, and International Boxing Organization
heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in South Africa on April
22.
Much of the pre-fight speculation had centered
around Lewis's participation in the filming of a re-make
of the 1960's Rat Pack classic Ocean's Eleven, which contains
a fight seen with Lewis taking on Wladimir Klitschko, and
the fact that he didn't arrive in Johannesburg, which sits
at over 6,000 feet above sea level, until just 10 days before
the fight.
Meanwhile, Rahman began intensive training
two months before the fight in the Catskill Mountains of
New York-just as many successful champions had done before
him. Thirty days before the fight, he arrived in Johannesburg
to allow time to fully acclimate to the environment before
entering the ring.
His hard work paid off. The bout began at
5:30 a.m. South African time to accommodate broadcast schedules
in America, and Rahman started out strong while Lewis pawed
at him with his jab between attempts at landing haymakers
intended to stop the fight early. Rahman repelled Lewis
and gained confidence, and won rounds, before landing "the
right hand that was heard around the world."
Unaffected that Lewis was in his 15th world
title fight and hadn't been beaten since Oliver McCall knocked
him out in London on Sept. 24, 1994, Rahman charged on into
the fifth round. Rahman pursued the backpedaling Lewis and
landed a punch that elicited a smile from the champion indicating
he was not hurt-a telltale sign that the punch had, in fact,
caught Lewis's attention. The smile was erased shortly thereafter
by a picture-perfect right that sent Lewis crumbling to
the mat where he was left in a sprawl while Belgian referee
Daniel van der Wiele counted him out.
At two minutes 32 seconds into the fifth round,
"The Rock" had shocked the world and won three
world heavyweight titles in what he and his co-managers,
Steve Nelson and Stan Hoffman, said was not an upset.
"I came up with one punch. One punch,"
Rahman said after the match. "Not one time since the
fight was made was I nervous. He came out and tried to dictate
the pace, but I wouldn't let him."
One of the biggest bidding wars ever ensued
for Rahman's services as he was a free agent when he won
the titles. Don King emerged as the victor, as the champion
snubbed television network goliaths HBO and SHOWTIME, who
had bid as much as $17 million in attempt to secure the
rights to televise his fights.
A rematch clause Rahman agreed to in the contract
he signed for the Lewis fight provided for Lewis to receive
a rematch, and a Manhattan federal court judge ruled that
the rematch would be immediate.
"I'm going to make over $10 million to fight Lennox
again," Rahman said. "Am I supposed to be upset?"
On Nov. 17, they met in Rahman vs. Lewis II
at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Rahman deviated
from the game plan that had served him so well in South
Africa. Gone was the burrowing, attacking style that got
him inside of Lewis's lanky-armed defenses to land his powerful
right hand.
Lewis changed his style as well. He noticed
that Rahman tended to push his arms out after fighter would
throw a left hook, leaving him susceptible to a right hand.
He knew Rahman would be looking for right hands, so in the
fourth round Lewis floated a left hook and then launched
a roundhouse right that sent Rahman to the canvas. Rahman
valiantly attempted to come to his feet at the count of
nine only to slip to the mat again and referee Joe Cortez
counted him out. "I'm not a quitter," Rahman said
after the fight. "Knockouts are a part of boxing."
On June 1, 2002, Rahman, undeterred and determined,
took on former, four-time champion Evander Holyfield in
a heavyweight eliminator fight, with immediate title contention
for the winner at stake. The two warriors stood toe-to-toe,
trading blows before Rahman succumbed after suffering a
hemotoma, which swelled to the size of a softball on his
forehead, resulting in an eighth-round technical loss.
On March 29, 2003, at The Spectrum in Philadelphia,
Rahman had the chance to avenge his loss to David Tua. It
went to the scorecards after 12 rounds with judge Bill Clancy
scoring the fight 116-112 for Rahman. George Hill scored
it a draw, and Robert Grasso inexplicably thought Tua had
won 116-112.
Rahman's performance earned him the right
at another title shot-this time for the WBA crown-against
John "The Quietman" Ruiz" at Boardwalk Hall
in Atlantic City during Don King's historic night featuring
eight world title fights.
Ruiz frustrated Rahman, as he has with so
many others, with his brawling style of fighting, winning
a unanimous decision.
Rahman, probably the most physically gifted
heavyweight in boxing, was very unhappy with his performance
and decided to re-dedicate himself to the sport winning
his last four bouts. King has given him another chance to
catapult himself back into title contention by including
him in Struggle for Supremacy on Nov. 13 in Madison Square
Garden against Australian surprise Kali Meehan.
"I thought Meehan won his fight with
Brewster (on Sept. 4)," Rahman said. "I told Don
to get me the guy who really beat Brewster. He rocked Lamon
to sleep like a baby. He won't do that to me. I will be
ready to fight this fight and every other fight I have until
I am once again champion of the world."
Rahman, 31, makes his home in Las Vegas, with his wife,
Crystal, and three children, Hasim Jr., 13, Sharif, 8, and
Amirah, 6.
