Friday, Nov. 9, 2001 | 11:08 a.m.
As shocking as his fight was with Lennox Lewis in April, Hasim Rahman envisions something of a repeat performance when the past and present heavyweight champions square off again Nov. 17 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
The rematch, Rahman implies, has already been scripted and it includes a remarkably similar outcome as the first fight in South Africa, where Lewis was counted out in the fifth round after taking consecutive rights.
"I might have to walk him down, or it might be a barnburner where we go toe to toe," Rahman said Thursday during a conference call from his Big Bear, Calif., training camp. "I'm looking for a war and a knockout before 12 (rounds)."
Rahman, the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation champion, is confident he will duplicate the resounding success he enjoyed at Lewis' expense last spring. Rahman says he'll win because even if Lewis is taking this fight more seriously, so is he.
"I feel like I'm getting better," he said. "The facilities and everything available to me are better this time.
"Lennox is training for the guy that showed up in South Africa. But I can beat the guy that showed up in South Africa because I'm eons better than I was then."
Rahman, 29, is 35-2 with 29 knockouts and is currently a plus 310 underdog in Las Vegas sports books. Lewis, 36, is 38-2-1 with 29 KOs and is a minus 380 betting favorite for the pay-per-view sequel.
"I guess they're more toward Lennox for what he has done in his career, which has been excellent," Rahman said of the odds. "But I don't go by what the people that set the odds say. In fact, they've been on a bad streak lately."
A relatively unknown commodity prior to upsetting Lewis on April 22, Rahman comes across as keenly aware of his newfound prowess and commitments.
"I had to ice Lennox for you to get to know me," he said. "When I won the title there was a lot of responsibility I had to accept. It's the responsibility of the heavyweight champion to come fully prepared every time and without any excuses.
"I get paid a lot of money to be the heavyweight champion (but) I'm just as hungry. I'm fighting for the title. Going in as the champion is nice but it doesn't matter who goes in as the champion."
He has repeatedly emphasized that he will not go down in history as another Buster Douglas, who upset Mike Tyson in 1990 only to balloon into a king-sized footnote.
"Douglas lost (the undisputed titles) in training," Rahman said. "I think I'm handling it well. I train hard, every day."
He also wants to fight Tyson in the future, which will only happen if he gets past Lewis a second time.
"He has a good jab, no doubt," Rahman said of Lewis. "I just feel I can jab with him. If you don't let him get confidence with his jab, he doesn't throw the big right hands he needs for a knockout.
"Whatever he thinks, I welcome the challenge. I'm big in his head. I can punch hard and I'm going to mix my arsenal up.
"I'm psychologically, physically and mentally stronger than Lennox Lewis."
The back-to-back rights that dropped Lewis in South Africa and ended that fight will end this next one, too, Rahman maintains.
"I hit him with right hands all night long," he said. "I felt I would get through and do some damage. I passed the test.
"I know I humiliated this man. I knocked him out and took his titles. The facts speak for themselves."
But was it a fluke?
"Both fighters do have a lot on the line and a lot to prove," Rahman said. "He wants to prove that it can't happen again, and I want to prove that it can.
"But I feel I have better head movement than Lennox. I feel I 'want it' more than he does."
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