Hasim Rahman (USA) vs Lennox Lewis (England) II | KNOCKOUT, BOXING fight, HD

ABC, the IBF, and the IBO heavyweight champion of the world, introducing the hard-hitting Haseem, the Rock Ruffman! Once again, a referee in charge, now to give instructions, Joe Cortez. Alright, pull up that t-shirt. Jack! Alright gentlemen, we've run all the rules in the dressing room. I expect a good, clean fight. I want good sportsman-like conduct. Guys, these trunks here are a little high. Punches here, above here, they're good. Same thing with you. Trunks a little high. Punches here is good. Give me a good, clean fight. Obey my commands at all times. Remember guys, I'm fair but I'm firm. God bless you. God bless America. Touch them up. There are two common sense outcomes here. One, a repeat knockout by Rockman. The other, a defensive decision by Lewis. This being boxing, we often get uncommon sense. Something we never foresee. Those are the two forms of conventional wisdom. There's no sweat on Rockman. Rockman is pretty dry. Now do you suppose Lennox Lewis is alert and aware enough to note that Rockman is dry? He should benefit himself just by him being in that position. Guys dry like that, don't let him get sweaty and loose. That weapon started just as he did in round one in Johannesburg. At least three feet away from those ropes. Give him time to be hit and move out of the way. Leatherman has a good history with his back against the ropes. Rockman's two losses against Moskai Aventura both came when he got trapped against the ropes and hammered by power punches. That may have been a more effective right hand than any of the right hands Lennox threw in South Africa. I see blood already on Rockman's face. Let's hope it's the red from the gloves and not blood. When Lennox throws that left jab, he has to constantly move. Lennox Lewis' corner, you like what you've seen in these first couple of minutes. If you're in Hasim Rockman's corner, you may still be waiting for your man to get properly warmed up. Somebody is bleeding and I think it is Rockman because there's blood on the left shoulder of Lewis. I think the right hand opened Rockman's left eye. And that left eye was bleeding in South Africa at the moment when Rockman knocked Lewis out. It's no question Rockman is bleeding from above the left eye, that is his lead eye. It's the eye that Lewis will be targeting with his jab. It's a disadvantage for Hasim Rockman from the get-go. Rockman's cut man is the excellent Miguel Diaz. Nice and calm, baby. That jab is doing a toll. You don't hurt him already. Put the right hand behind him. Come behind with the left hook. Suck it in. You're okay, baby. Miguel got you. You're okay. Let's take a look at the replay, Larry. That could have been the jab. It was a right hand a while before then that did all of that. Well, from Rockman's reaction, he knows he is bleeding. That was not the jab to do it. Jabs in round one. Lewis threw 37 of them and landed 17. The statistical marker on Lewis in those fights in which he throws more than 30 jabs per round, he's awfully hard to handle. Rockman threw 30 jabs in the first round and landed 16, so he's off to a good start as well. He's allowing Lewis to use the middle of the ring is what he shouldn't do. Lewis' back should always be 2 feet from the rope. Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Mark Ratner assures us that the cut over Rockman's eye was caused by a punch, not by a butt, so it's a legal cut. I saw the right hand, that's for sure. I don't think Rockman saw it coming. Lennox Lewis threw 37 jabs in round one. If he throws 37 jabs around Emmanuel Stewart, his trainer, he's going to be very happy with the way Lewis is prosecuting the fight. There's a left hook that lands and a right to the body. Lewis only hurts himself when he gets into these close exchanges. If he can stay on the outside, close exchanges, he's going to hurt. There he jabs and steps back. That's part of the plan. Jab, step back, keep the distance between himself and Rockman. Make him keep his back on those ropes, and that same right hand is always there for you. James is still in the center of the ring for the moment. Lewis trying to keep his jab upstairs. Now he throws to the body, a tactic that worked so well for Rockman in South Africa. Some of the jabs that Lewis is landing are the hardest I've ever seen him land. That's the way it has to be. It's got to be hard, it's got to puff you up, so that you can make the man with his dish. There have been times when he's just been sort of painting his opponent and moving away at the same time, but he's throwing some hard left hands tonight. This is indeed a very aggressive dabbing performance by Lewis, and you saw him dab to the top of the head, then bring the right hand over the top, George. He loves to hide the right hand by dabbing you up on the head. Once again, Lewis' legs are a little too close to the ropes. That's where he's going to find his troubles, if he finds them at all. Back is getting even closer now. He's got to stay in the middle of the ring. Rockman is starting to get him to go on the ropes now. How do you like the way Rockman's working his way back into it? He's got his body, got Lennox back on the rope. Lennox is in an excellent position now. Stay in the middle of the ring. Lennox misses with a big left hook. As round two comes to a close. Here's Lewis after throwing a series of jabs, lands a clean left hook, and here, some jabs. That is one stiff jab. And he's thrown 68 jabs in the first two rounds. He's never lost a fight in which he's averaged 30 jabs per round. Through round two, by CompuBox numbers, of 72 total connected punches, 55 are jabs. So it has been a dabbing contest up to a point, but Lewis did land the one big right hand in round number one. And he drew blood, so perhaps Rockman got under Lewis' skin with the taunting, but Lewis got under his skin with a punch. Lewis was going to tell him, don't worry about the left hand, don't worry about the hook, just stay out of the right hand. That's your harm's way. Lewis is doing a good job, but you've got to step back to your left every now and then and make him throw the hook. Make Rockman throw his hook. Rockman doesn't seem to have any confidence in a good, strong left hook. What he wants to do is make him throw it. Just make him do it. Rockman contends in sparring, his left hook is getting better, but he's been a one-two fighter through most of his career, jab, right cross. As for that matter, has Lewis. There's a left hook by Lewis, and it lands. It hurt. Not only did it land, it hurt Rockman. Now you don't want to get too overconfident when a guy who's knocked you out. Keep the hurt on, keep the rounds coming. Rockman trying to pound to the body as he gets in close. Lewis lands another stiff jab, and Rockman backs back out. He's especially defensive. He is boxing and punching. Lewis was commanding the space in the ring in exactly the same way he did not do it in South Africa. Lennox Lewis on those ropes. He made a little bit this time, Lennox Lewis. That left hook wrung his belt. But the jab comes back, dribbles up on the jab, and there's space between himself and Rockman. Rockman's dabbing to the body again. Lewis' hands are down. He's close to the ropes. What more can you ask for if you're rocking? They're going to him. Throw this man down. You don't have to start saving yourself. Start going to him and playing defense. Everybody's backing up. Everybody's kidding me and stuff. Every time they come at you, do like this. Put them hands up. That kills everything. Just keep doing that. You can't get over your own. Every time they make any kind of retreat, they run to you, put your hands up high. Just relax yourself, champ. Lennox Lewis may have been outwitted by the verbally sharp champion. He is not being out-hit by him. First three rounds have followed the Lewis plan, particularly in the sense that he's throwing the jab with great frequency, averaging 34 jabs per round. He landed 17 out of 34 jabs in round three. That's a great statistical indicator for Lewis from CompuBox. Harold Lederman, how'd you score the first three rounds? Okay, Jim. 3-0, 30-27 Lennox Lewis. Jim, when a guy circles to his right like Lennox is doing, it's an unnatural move for a right-hand fighter. He's doing it beautifully. Rock can't hit him with that big right hand. Another thing, in all the exchanges, Lennox will get off first. Keep Rock on the balance, or Rock can't get set to punch. Watch this. Lennox is always going to land the first punch. More aggressive, Emmanuel Stewart, between rounds, said to Lennox Lewis, Lennox, this man can't counterpunch. Go get him. Yeah, but the one thing that lives in Lennox Lewis' head, that knife in Africa. Yep. You can't take that away from him. You know, even his own corner said to him, to Rockman, if he punches, just keep your hands high. They're telling him not to counterpunch. Boom! Boom! Will Rockman get up, or have the table been turned? What did you think of the stoppage? You know what happened? Lennox Lewis let an ordinary... He came back. Made the ordinary fighter look like an ordinary fighter. I think the stoppage was right on time. The guy got caught with a hard shot. Very few fellows can get up. He got up, went down. Cortez, the best. In the trial in which Rockman was forced to take this rematch, Emmanuel Stewart testified that you have to make it immediate because odd fighter Lennox Lewis is getting older. Lennox Lewis just made him a perjurer. I love it. Larry's talking about age in the opposite direction. He's been converted. That may turn out to be Lennox Lewis's most respected performance ever in the ring. Isn't that something, Anthony? Beautiful stuff. This is what some of his supporters thought. He could have done the Holyfield if he had decided to be more aggressive. Rockman totally out of position after the left and the right hand was good night. He did it by long range. That's most important. He didn't try to close in. Everything was out in the open. That's the way you want to fight a puncher. He set it all up with the left hand by firing aggressively, keeping his left hand in Rockman's face, mixing in the left hook every once in a while with the jab. He changed it up here. Instead of jab and right hand, it was hook and right hand. The old saying, never follow a puncher around. And Rockman did. Rockman made the fatal mistake, I'm going to follow you no matter what you jab me or what. Rockman has spent months saying he had no respect for Lennox Lewis. He went into the ring and showed he had no respect for Lennox Lewis, and he paid the price. It happened to Lennox Lewis in the same fashion. He had no respect for Rockman, and he tasted Kempis. Now they're even. Fifth round knockout for Rockman in South Africa, fourth round knockout for Lewis here, and Lennox regains what he surely believes is his right, the heavyweight championship of the world. Isn't that something? Cannot believe it. And this all happened because Rockman had no respect. He didn't repeat. Beaten in the chest, just threw at the head and missed. And incidentally, to go back to the point you made at the very beginning of the fight, Rockman came into the ring not fully warmed up, and he never really caught up to Lewis' momentum. Dry as a bone. And by the time the sweat was there, he's already caught on a bloody eye. What's that about? All three judges had scored the first three rounds, all for Lewis, so he was well on his way to the decision victory that most of his supporters thought he'd get. Then he shortened it up. Let's go to Jimmy Lennon Jr. for the official particulars. Ladies and gentlemen, we have the time of one minute, 29 seconds, in round number four. Our referee in charge, Joe Cortez, reaches the count of ten. The winner by way of knockout, he is now the three-time heavyweight champion of the world, Lennox Lewis! I know CompuBox numbers will show you Lewis' advantages in all categories. He landed 24 more punches. He threw 39 more punches. He was brilliantly accurate, connecting with half the punches that he threw. He painted Rockman with power punches, mostly set up by the jab. And in the end, he scored the huge combination, left hook, right cross, and knocked Rockman out. There you have it, total jabs. Lewis threw 111 jabs in just under four rounds, and that's the benchmark. When he throws 30 jabs per round, you can't handle him. Rockman could not. Let's go to Larry Merton with the heavyweight champ, Lennox Lewis. Thank you, Jim. Congratulations, Lennox. You came into the fight. Your opponent was bone dry. Did you notice anything right from the start? Well, I seen a little twinkle in his eye, you know? You know, plus I've been dreaming all week to change his name, change his name from Husband Rockman to Has-Been Rockman. His name's Has-Been Rockman now. No, no, no. How did you turn your anger at him for all of the taunts he's been making at you into a positive... No, man. No. ...into a positive for you? I didn't hear the question. I'm sorry, Lennox. How did you turn... How did you turn all the anger that you had welling up in you because of the taunting, because of your own lackluster performance in Africa into this positive? I just stayed focused, you know? When we were in South Africa, yeah, I said that the belts were on loan. So he's had his 15 minutes of glory. Now they're coming back home to me. Do you acknowledge now that you didn't give your absolute best effort, you didn't take him seriously in Africa? Well, you know what? I didn't take him serious enough. I was in good shape in Africa, but, you know, one punch, he got through with one punch when I was a little not focused in that fight, and he got through with a great punch. We're in the heavyweight business. You can end things in one punch. Why did you hide out in your dressing room tonight? You seemed like you were just, what, in your own zone, and you just were focused on what was going to happen? Yeah, I was very focused. I didn't want to get into the hoopla. I was just showing the world that I was focused. They couldn't see too much of me. Even Rockman wanted to come in and see what I was doing. He was nervous. So he was outside my dressing room. I was laughing. Madiba! The first few rounds, you described what you were doing in the first few rounds. Your jab seemed more authoritative than we've ever seen it. You stayed away from his right hand. Was that the plan? Yeah, just to give him some movement. He couldn't take the movement. I just showed him a different style. I told you, I can switch any style I want to, and this time I just showed him a different style of moving. Let's go now to the fourth round and take a look at the knockout. You tell us what you saw. Emmanuel told you in the corner you can be more aggressive. What did you see? I noticed every time I tried to reach around him with a hook, he sticks his arms out. More time, he's watching out for the straight right hand. So I kind of turned it around on him and threw a roundhouse right hand. Emmanuel Stewart also said to you, look, this man doesn't counterpunch. You can attack him. Yeah, I took some of the pressure to him. I gave him a lot of pressure.