Evander Holyfield vs. Hasim Rahman explained

Fight Date:June 1, 2002
Fight Name:The Royal Comeback
Location:Convention Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey
Fighter1: Evander Holyfield
Purse1:$5,000,000
Nickname1:"The Real Deal"
Record1:37–5–2
Height1:6 ft 2 in
Weight1:216 lb
Style1:Orthodox
Hometown1:Atlanta Georgia, U.S.
Recognition1:WBC/WBA
No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight
IBF
No. 4 Ranked Heavyweight
2-division undisputed world champion
Fighter2: Hasim Rahman
Purse2:$2,000,000
Nickname2:"The Rock"
Record2:35–3
Hometown2:Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Height2:6 ft 2 in
Weight2:224 lb
Style2:Orthodox
Recognition2:WBC/IBF
No. 3 Ranked Heavyweight
WBA
No. 9 Ranked Heavyweight
Former unified heavyweight champion
Result:Holyfield wins via 8th-round split technical decision (69-64, 66-67, 69-64)

Evander Holyfield vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "The Royal Comeback", was a professional boxing match contested on June 1, 2002.

Background

In April 2002, it was announced that Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman would face each other in June of that year in Atlantic City.[1] The bout was a WBC "eliminator", with the winner to be named the number-one contender to the WBC heavyweight title then held by Lennox Lewis. Both Holyfield and Rahman had held and then lost a version of the heavyweight title the previous year; Holyfield had lost the WBA heavyweight title to John Ruiz in May 2001 and then fought to a draw in December in an unsuccessful bid to regain the title, while Rahman had defeated Lewis in April 2001 to win the WBC and IBF heavyweight titles but lost them in a rematch to Lewis in November.

The fight was promoted by Don King, who was making his return to the state of New Jersey after having previously been banned from promoting fights there in 1994 due to an indictment for insurance fraud. King dubbed the event "The Royal Comeback" as a result.[2]

The Holyfield–Rahman fight was held on June 1, 2002 only one week before the highly anticipated fight between Lewis and Mike Tyson, causing the former fight to be overshadowed by the latter.[3] HBO Sports president Ross Greenberg hoped the Holyfield–Rahman fight would benefit from the hype surrounding the Lewis–Tyson bout stating "It'll be like the Golden Globes before the Oscars." King, however, would claim " We have the only fight in June!"

The fight

Holyfield controlled the majority of the fight, landing more total punches (129 to Rahman's 118) and having a decisive edge in power punches (102 to Rahman's 71). In the seventh round, Holyfield hit Rahman with a headbutt that caused a massive hematoma to develop above Rahman's left eye and Rahman's corner-man tried to stop the swelling between rounds seven and eight to no avail. Rahman would go out and fight in the eight round, but as the hematoma continue to swell and effect Rahman's vision, the referee stopped the fight midway through the round and after consulting with the ringside physician, the fight was stopped. The decision would then go to the judge's scorecards, one judge had Rahman ahead by the score 67–66, but the other two had Holyfield winning with identical, scores of 69–64, leading to Holyfield being declared the winner by split technical decision.[4]

Aftermath

Rahman was critical of Holyfield after the fight, stating "I don't feel it was a fair or official fight. I don't feel Evander beat me tonight" and later joking at the post-fight press conference "I'm sitting here with an extra head" and that he would "wear a helmet next time."[5]

After his knockout win over Tyson, Lewis vacated the IBF title at the urging of promoter Don King, which allowed King to put together a fight between Holyfield and Chris Byrd for the vacant belt with hopes of pitting the winner against the winner of the John Ruiz–Roy Jones Jr. WBA championship bout.[6]

Rahman would go on to face David Tua in a rematch which was controversially scored a draw.

Fight card

Weight ClassWeightvs.MethodRoundTimeNotes
Heavyweight200+ lbEvander Holyfield def.Hasim RahmanTD8/12
Heavyweight200+ lbMaurice Harris def.Siarhei LiakhovichKO9/10
Heavyweight200+ lbFriday Ahunanyadef.Josué BlocusSD10/10
Heavyweight200+ lbLarry DonalddefJames StantonUD10/10
Light Heavyweight175 lbSyd VanderpooldefTyrus ArmsteadTKO10/10

Notes and References

  1. https://www.upi.com/News_Photos/view/upi/529cedc9769413b4199ce0ebcc51de8e/Evander-Holyfield-and-Hasim-Rahman-to-box-in-June/ Evander Holyfield and Hasim Rahman to box in June
  2. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/18/sports/boxing-forget-about-age-holyfield-says.html Forget About Age, Holyfield Says
  3. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/01/sports/plus-boxing-holyfield-rahman-not-much-interest.html Holyfield-Rahman: Not Much Interest
  4. https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/02/sports/boxing-after-fight-is-stopped-the-winner-is-holyfield.html After Fight Is Stopped, the Winner Is Holyfield
  5. https://www.baltimoresun.com/bal-sp.rahman02jun02-story.html Holyfield tops Rahman after head butt
  6. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2002-09-05-lewis-ibf-belt_x.htm King has plans to make use of Lewis' discarded belt