By T.K. Stewart

When Hasim 'The Rock' Rahman steps through the ropes tomorrow night to face Wladimir Klitschko, he will do so without Marshall Kauffman, his trainer for the past several years.

Despite training Rahman right up until last Wednesday, Marshall Kauffman did not make the trip to Germany when Rahman left on Sunday. Instead, Buddy McGirt will serve as Rahman's chief second.

I spoke to Kauffman on Thursday afternoon from his office at the King's Gym in Reading, Pennsylvania. He didn't wish to delve into the specifics of what transpired between he and Rahman except to say, "I don't know the details of his decision. Unfortunately, we didn't see eye-to-eye."

Part of what may have caused the rift is that Kauffman left Rahman's training camp in Rochester, New York last Wednesday to be in the corner of his son, heavyweight Travis Kauffman. The younger Kauffman fought Malachy Farrell on Showtime last Friday night in Santa Ynez, California.

Kauffman said he received a call on Thursday night in California telling him that his services were no longer required and that he was out of the picture as far as Rahman was concerned.

However, Kauffman points out that Rahman knew that he would have to leave to be with his son and that his son's fight was scheduled before Rahman's training camp even began.

Whatever the case, Kauffman is not bitter and he wants everyone to know there is no negativity he has toward Rahman and that he wishes 'The Rock" nothing but the best against Klitschko.

"Things like this happen in boxing," said the pleasant and well-spoken Kauffman who is definitely taking the high road. "This is the nature of the beast of the business that I'm a part of and that's O.K."

Kauffman said that for the past four weeks he had put Rahman through what he termed "a great" training camp at Future Gym in Rochester, New York and that Rahman was "looking superb" and that his weight was down.

"He's more than ready and that's without a doubt," said Kauffman "I'd be surprised if he doesn't come in right around 238 pounds. We spent a solid 4 weeks together. We trained over Thanksgiving Day, we worked out 6 days a week. The only day we didn't train was on Sundays.

"He looks good physically and he's well prepared," continued Kauffman. "We did see each other and talk on Sunday morning and he was 240-242 then. He's in great shape. We did a lot of sparring, we had great sparring partners and we did a lot of road work. He laid off the weights, to my knowledge, and we also did a lot of pad work."

Kauffman revealed that Rahman utilized heavyweights Larry Donald, Marcellus Brown, Kevin "Big Dog" Montiy and his son Travis as sparring partners.

Kauffman said that Donald has a "great left jab" and the plan he had mapped out for Rahman was for him "to take Klitschko's jab away" which would then allow them to take away his big right hand. Brown is 7'0" tall and Kauffman characterized him as an "excellent sparring partner" who they got top-flight work out of. He said Brown was good "because he would jab and hold, just like Klitschko does. I also threw my son Travis in there with him to get some extra rounds."

The game plan, according to Kauffman is for Rahman "to stay low and be aggressive.

"He's been staying low and making adjustments and not fighting tall," said Kauffman. "He's been doing a lot of that and the smaller he is, the better he's going to be against Klitschko. We worked on a lot of things to take away Klitschko's jab and to make adjustments with Rock's foot work."

Kauffman revealed that Rahman sparred 16 rounds with five different fighters on one day and that he sparred 15 rounds on another day. Kauffman said that in the third week of November, Rahman sparred 47 rounds.

Kauffman's rationale was that he could build Rahman's confidence up by having him spar so many rounds at one time. The thinking was that Rahman would then have no reservations about going the 12-round distance.

"He's in shape and he looked spectacular. He really did a lot of head movement and a lot of good footwork," said Kauffman. "He was making little, subtle movements with his feet so he can move Klitschko where he wants him. He is well prepared. Rock did watch tapes with me for the first time ever and he's definitely motivated. I read a story on ESPN today saying he has one foot in the ring and one foot out of the ring, but I know he's motivated because he knows this is his last chance."

Kauffman says the door is open for Rahman, who he considers "like family" to him and that his son Travis "really looks up to Rock, like a big brother, so this was a big disappointment for all of us."

But Kauffman is realistic in thinking that if Rahman loses on Saturday, that this could be the end of the line.

"I don't know, at this point it could be his last fight," said Kauffman. "I gave it my all and I laid out a good game plan for him. Every sparring partner he sparred with he was hurting. One sparring partner, he dropped. He did extremely well and everything was coming together, so I just hope he puts it all together on Saturday night and I hope, too, that he gives me the credit I deserve. But it's alright, I'm not going to worry about it. I'll leave it all in God's hands, but I definitely think Rock has a great chance."

E-mail Comments To tkstewartboxing@gmail.com