Only person that robbed Zahir was himself

Raheem has a unique style One thing that Zahir Raheem does that's unique is that he crouches and then lunges in and ties up sometimes. It's ugly to watch and doesn't help him at all. Marciano used to crouch but that was before he came in to throw punches, not to tie up! Raheem is not a short man for the lightweight division either. Crouching is usually a technique used by shorter fighters to make it difficult for their opponents to land any good shots except on top of their head. Maybe it's too late for Raheem to fix that flaw in his style. It's hard to say unless you're his trainer. Raheem is usually on balance otherwise. He's a good athlete although he doesn't have a lot of punching power, and counterpunches well against most opponents. I think that his counterpunching was effective enough that the fight with Freitas was even, and a draw seemed like the proper result to me. Freitas often lunged in, missing his overhand right, and both men fell into a clinch. It was awkward and frustrating to watch. Raheem's clinches do not help him. Wladimir Klitschko's clinching might sometimes save him from getting hurt, and Ruiz's clinches are annoying to watch but they are effective against a lot of his opponents, but Raheem's clinching doesn't seem to have much purpose except to avoid inside fighting. He was trained in Philadelphia so you wonder how he got into that habit of tying up on the inside so much. Most Philly fighters learn to fight inside, going to the body, covering up and using angles. I like Raheem as a man but his style isn't any fun to watch.

Agree completely. He didn't show up the first 5 rounds and let Freitas win the last 2. Raheem didn't show any desire to win until he was getting tagged. Very pitiful.

he also held/clinched more that any fight I have ever seen...that shit was ridiculous

Ya know, I really like Zahir. He's a likeable guy. Though his style sucks. It's sorta technician, sorta puncher. Yet ineffective as either if you ask me. When he decides to punch, it's nearly a 1 punch rather than put really nice combinations together. Muchless, his usual way of throwing the 1 big punch equals a tie up as soon as he gets close even if the shot lands. That gives his opponent a chance to hang on while he's hurt as Freitas did. Then when he's technical, he's a sloppy mess. He slips and falls all over the place, off balance it looks half the time, and what the heck is with him going nearly below the belt half the time. He just makes everything look sloppy and bad, that even if he's doing a decent job, you wouldn't notice with all the bad parts he includes. His major weak thing is throwing himself into the opponent after either he gets tagged or like I said earlier, he lands a big shot. Why? I don't know. He's gotta work on something back in the gym because he's got skill that's being applied wrong. :cool: i aggree, and think right now, kind of reminds me of wlad, like when wlad feels hes in trouble, instantly he want to hold raheem should have been shotting million of jabs but funny thing was that when he did freitas followd with his own jab taking away raheems jab

Ya know, I really like Zahir. He's a likeable guy. Though his style sucks. It's sorta technician, sorta puncher. Yet ineffective as either if you ask me. When he decides to punch, it's nearly a 1 punch rather than put really nice combinations together. Muchless, his usual way of throwing the 1 big punch equals a tie up as soon as he gets close even if the shot lands. That gives his opponent a chance to hang on while he's hurt as Freitas did. Then when he's technical, he's a sloppy mess. He slips and falls all over the place, off balance it looks half the time, and what the heck is with him going nearly below the belt half the time. He just makes everything look sloppy and bad, that even if he's doing a decent job, you wouldn't notice with all the bad parts he includes. His major weak thing is throwing himself into the opponent after either he gets tagged or like I said earlier, he lands a big shot. Why? I don't know. He's gotta work on something back in the gym because he's got skill that's being applied wrong. :cool: ** I agree, he has some good skills, but his balance is atrocious and me thinks he worries about his chin. He needs a mental adjustment because he's not all there and won't get too many opportunities with that ugly style.