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| Date | 18 March 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Boardwalk Hall, Atlantic City, New Jersey | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBC Heavyweight Championship | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Majority Draw | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hasim Rahman vs. James Toney , billed as The Big Boys are Back, was a professional boxing match contested on 18 March 2006 for the WBC heavyweight championship.
After failing to win any of next four fights following his April 2001 knockout victory over unified heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (including being knockouted in the rematch), Hasim Rahman won all 5 of his bouts in 2004 to become the WBC number 1 ranked contender and the mandatory challenger to new heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. The fight was agreed for 30 April 2005, however Klitschko injured his thigh while training for the fight, so it was rescheduled for 18 June. As this date approached, Klitschko's camp said that the thigh had not fully healed; the WBC made 23 July the new fight date. Soon after this second postponement, Vitali's doctors reportedly discovered back injuries that they said demanded minor-yet-immediate corrective surgery. The WBC pushed the fight back again, this time to 12 November. [1] [2] After this third rescheduling, Rahman won a WBC "Interim" heavyweight bout against his friend Monte Barrett on 13 August by a wide unanimous decision.
On 7 November, five days before he was due to face Rahman, it was announced that Klitschko had suffered severe right knee injuries during training. After WBC said it would strip him of the championship, on November 9, Vitali Klitschko announced his retirement. [3] [4] The next the WBC voted to award its heavyweight championship to Rahman, making him a two-time heavyweight champion. [5] [6]
Shortly afterward James Toney's planned December bout with Rob Calloway was cancelled as Toney's promoter Dan Goosen entered talks with Rahman's promoter Don King make Toney Rahman's first defence. Wladimir Klitschko and Oleg Maskaev were also mentioned as options. [7]
In the build up the bout Toney called out the now retired Lennox Lewis saying that "Lennox will return - he can't resist." [8]
Rahman received a $2.5 million purse and Toney $2 million. [9] The bookmakers had Toney a 2–1 on favourite to win the bout. [10]
The fight was largely uneventful with no knockdowns, but Rahman did suffer a deep cut over his left eye in the 5th round that worsened as the fight continued. Rahman threw 379 more punches than Toney.
Judge John Stewart scored the bout 117–111 to Rahman with the other two scoring it a 114–114 draw. Judges Tom Kaczmarek and Nobuaki Uratani had Toney leading by one point heading into the 12th with Rahman only retained the title by winning the final round. [11] [12] HBO's Harold Lederman had the bout scored 116-112 for Rahman and ESPN.com scored it 115-114 for Rahman. [13]
Following the bout Rahman's new promoter Bob Arum ruled out an immediate rematch against Toney, saying that he would have a mandatory defence against Oleg Maskaev, who had stopped Rahman in November 1999. [14] [15] History repeated itself and Maskaev knocked out Rahman again.
Toney's next bout was a WBC eliminator bout against Samuel Peter who won by split decision. He would ultimately have a rematch with Rahman in July 2008 where an accidental clash of heads in round three caused the bout to be ruled a no contest.
Confirmed bouts: [16]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
 United States | HBO |
Lennox Claudius Lewis is a boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 2003. He is a three-time world heavyweight champion, a two-time lineal champion, and held the undisputed championship. Holding dual British and Canadian citizenship, Lewis represented Canada as an amateur at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics; in the latter, he won a gold medal in the super-heavyweight division.
John Ruiz is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2010, and held the WBA heavyweight title twice between 2001 and 2005. Ruiz is of Puerto Rican descent, and is the first Latino boxer to win a world heavyweight title.
Hasim Sharif Rahman is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal titles in 2001; and the WBC title again from 2005 to 2006. He was ranked as a top 10 heavyweight by BoxRec from 2000 to 2007, and reached his highest ranking of world No.6 in 2000.
Wladimir Klitschko is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held the world heavyweight championship twice, including the unified WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and Ring magazine titles. A strategic and intelligent boxer, Klitschko is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time. He was known for his exceptional knockout power, using a strong jab, straight right hand and left hook, quick hand speed, great physical strength which he employed when clinching opponents, and his athletic footwork and mobility, unusual for boxers of his size.
Vitalii Volodymyrovych Klychko, known as Vitali Klitschko, is a Ukrainian politician and former professional boxer. He serves as mayor of Kyiv, and is also head of the Kyiv City State Administration, having held both offices since June 2014. Klitschko is a former leader of the Petro Poroshenko Bloc, and is a former member of the Ukrainian Parliament. He became actively involved in Ukrainian politics in 2005 and combined this with his professional boxing career until his retirement from the sport in 2013. He holds a Doctoral Degree (Ph.D.) from Kyiv University's Physical Science Department.
Samuel Okon Peter is a Nigerian professional boxer. He held the WBC heavyweight title in 2008, when he stopped Oleg Maskaev in six rounds. In his prime, he was known for his rivalry with the Klitschko brothers, having faced Wladimir twice and Vitali once. Peter was named among the 20 greatest athletes in the history of independent Nigeria by The Punch in 2023, while his capturing of the WBC heavyweight title was ranked the 26th most memorable moment in independent Nigeria's sports history by Premium Times in 2020. He was ranked by The Ring among ten best heavyweights at the conclusion of a year from 2005 to 2008, reaching his highest ranking of world No.2 in 2007. Peter is known for his punching power and holds a 78.9% knockout-to-win ratio.
Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev is a Russian-American former professional boxer who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2006 to 2008.
Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko, known as the Klitschko Brothers, are Ukrainian former professional boxers. During their peak years between 2004 and 2015, they were considered the dominant world heavyweight champions of their era, and among the most successful champions in boxing history. In 2011, they entered the Guinness World Records book as brothers with most world heavyweight title fight wins. In the years following the retirement of heavyweight titlist Lennox Lewis in 2004, the Klitschko brothers would eventually accumulate all four major world heavyweight titles. Known for their exceptionally large physiques, speed, and punching power, they each developed a style that utilized their athleticism and arm reach to break down opponents.
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Lennox Lewis vs. David Tua, billed as Royal Rampage, was a professional boxing match contested on November 11, 2000 for the WBC, IBF, and IBO heavyweight championships.
Lennox Lewis vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "Thunder in Africa", was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between unified WBC, IBF, IBO, and lineal champion Lennox Lewis, and Hasim Rahman. The bout took place on 22 April 2001 in Brakpan, South Africa. Rahman, who was a 20–1 underdog, won by knockout in the fifth round. It was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.
Hasim Rahman vs. Lennox Lewis II, billed as Final Judgment, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal champion Hasim Rahman and former undisputed heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. The bout took place on November 17, 2001 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Paradise, Nevada, and served as a rematch of their April 22 bout in which Rahman scored a major upset. In the rematch, Lewis won by knockout.
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Wladimir Klitschko vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as "X-Plosive", was a professional boxing match contested on 13 December 2008 for the IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. James Toney was a professional boxing match contested on April 30, 2005, for the WBA heavyweight championship.
Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev II, billed as America's Last Line of Defense, was a professional boxing match contested on 12 August 2006, for the WBC heavyweight championship.
John Ruiz vs. Andrew Golota, billed as Struggle For Supremacy (Night of the Heavyweights), was a professional boxing match contested on November 13, 2004, for the WBA Heavyweight championship.
Oleg Maskaev vs. Samuel Peter, billed as Championship Heat, was a professional boxing match contested on 8 March 2008, for the WBC heavyweight championship.
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