By Matthew Hurley

Hasim Rahman is a bit of a puzzle.  The WBC heavyweight champion had his title belt strapped upon him after Vitali Klitschko retired.  He didn’t win the championship in the ring.  He did once, against Lennox Lewis in 2001.  That night he knocked out the champion with one crushing right cross and seemingly validated his career.  But before that night and ever since Hasim Rahman has been a disappointment.  In fact Rahman is indicative of all that is wrong with the heavyweight division.  He’s an underachiever.

On March 18, he will attempt to put all the negativity that has surrounded him to rest when he squares off against James Toney.  If ever there was a time for Hasim Rahman to fulfill his potential and prove he’s worthy enough to call himself the heavyweight champion of the world it is now.  And Toney, creeping up in age, is the perfect opponent for what should be a rousing fistic battle.  Both men need this victory because without a “W” on their ledger, it’s pretty much over.

Rahman is almost as verbose as Toney and there is a very endearing quality about the fighter.  Though he shoots his mouth off whenever a microphone is near him there is none of the antagonism that Toney brings to the arena.  Basically, Rahman is a nice guy who simply punches people in the face for a living. 

He’s a good guy you wouldn’t mind having a beer with at the local tavern.  And that may be his greatest flaw when it comes to fisticuffs.  Sometimes he fights as though he’s waiting for someone else to pay the tab.  Inexplicable losses to John Ruiz and Oleg Maskaev were more a case of Rahman staring in apprehension at the gun rather than pulling the trigger.  He’s had so many opportunities and blown so many of them that one is left to throw up his hands in frustration.  That, in a nutshell, is the career of Hasim Rahman.

“I really don’t regret anything,” he says, smiling.  “I’m just fortunate I got another chance to be at the top and have my destiny in my own hands.  I’d be really upset if I was never in this position.  I got a chance to do some things.”

He’s had those chances before and he blew them.  And despite the cocksure grin and playful asides, Rahman knows that it’s time to grow up and take his career seriously.  He also knows that should he lose badly to Toney his entire career will be open to question, regardless of how many belts he won.

"What I did in the past is done,” he sighs.  There is a resignation in his tone that he immediately tries to dissuade.  “I know my history and the negative things I’ve done, but now I’m in a position to right all of that.  I don’t have any regrets.  I accept it all because this time it’s different.  I’m totally focused and ready to prove myself.  I want the money!  I’m willing to do what I need to do to make the most money.  It’s all about winning now so I can make that money.”

 Spoken like a true capitalist.  And good for him.  At least something is motivating him.  Let’s face it, there should be just rewards for getting punched in the face and in the gut but fight fans, and a more diehard sports contingent you won’t find outside of soccer hooligans, do not take kindly to lazy underachievers.  That’s why many in the boxing community are hesitant to even give Rahman another chance.  There’s just something a bit unreliable about him.

“I’m here to show that the past is the past.  It’s my time now and James Toney is not going to get in my way.”

Rahman smiles, a goofy engaging grin that just makes you like him, and he laughs off the taunts that Toney has thrown his way.  “He thinks it’s a foregone conclusion that he’s going to win every fight he’s involved in.  He’s so cocky and arrogant.  I can’t respect the fact he thinks there’s something special about him.  I mean, who is he?  I’m here to show him he doesn’t belong in the same ring as me.  He’s going to get knocked out or he’s going to quit on his stool and blame one of those steroid injuries for why he quits.  I’m going to make him find a way out of there one way or another.  I’m taking him out.”

The champion folds his arms across his chest and attempts a glare of confidence but that smile creeps back onto his face and he laughs in spite of himself.  “I mean what I said,” he chuckles.  You know he does and he makes you hope he can follow through on his boast, but the past, well, it may be the past but it’s still out there, mocking.  Didn’t the “Rock” sound as happy and confident before his rematch with Lennox Lewis?  You remember, the fight where he nearly had his head taken off by a swinging right hand.

Rahman waves it all off.  “The past, man!  I don’t think about that.  I’m where I want to be and plan on staying here.  That fat punk ain’t gonna ruin my time.  I will knock him out.”

The best thing about this heavyweight showdown is how engaging both fighters are.  And even though Toney can be almost oppressively arrogant you often come away from an interview session with him knowing that he’s having you on.  He enjoys playing to the cameras and the microphones.  Rahman is very much like his opponent in that sense but he lacks the poker face that Toney can strap on.  Hasim projects what he is, a good old guy who happens to be the WBC heavyweight champion. 

Should he beat Toney he will have fulfilled all the promise that has for so long been kept at bay, the past will indeed be the past and the “Rock” can smile all he wants and the public won’t begrudge him one bit.