by James Slater – The career of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman rolls on. In stopping a gutsy, have-a-go Shannon Miller in the 4th-round of an eventful fight in Niagara Falls, New York last night, the 37-year-old proved he at least has something left to offer. Knocking the 36-year-old down four times in total, once in each of the four-rounds, Rahman showed he still has power in both hands; his right hand especially.
After the fourth knockdown, in the 4th-round, Miller’s corner asked the referee, Charlie Fitch, to stop the one-sided affair. The official times was 1-minute and 37-seconds of the 4th-round, and Rahman , who weighed-in at a reasonable-looking 260-pounds, improved to 47-7-2(38).. Miller, who weighed 234-pounds, fell to 16-5(9). The win was Rahman’s second since losing in a title bid against Wladimir Klitschko back in December of last year; “The Rock” having taken out Clinton Boldridge inside a round in March.
Though he won in commanding fashion last night, Rahman didn’t quite have things his own way. Caught by a few punches, even stunned slightly in the opening round, Rahman also finished the fight with a swollen right eye. Clearly, as he later admitted himself, there is much work to be done if the former champ is to ever again get close to another shot at a title. Had it been a bigger puncher in there with him last night, who knows? maybe Rahman would’ve been in serious trouble.
At age 37, and after a long and at times hard career, the odds are very much against the Baltimore man making it back to anywhere near the top. However, with today’s heavyweight division so wide open in America, with the U.S desperately in search of a fighter capable of bringing at least a slice of the crown back home, of course Rahman is going to fight on. And, even if the man who once KO’d the great Lennox Lewis doesn’t get as far as challenging for a major belt one more time, there are some good, potentially interesting fights out there for him that the fans would pay to watch.
Rahman, who plans to stay busy, would likely attract a big audience if he were to face someone such as, for a few examples; Shannon Briggs (currently on his own comeback), Kevin Johnson (who lost to Vitali Klitschko last December), the soon-to-return Chris Arreola, or maybe even Evander Holyfield (who “Rock” lost to in a quite bizarre fight a number of years ago).
No, we don’t need veterans like Rahman and Holyfield “clogging up” the division, but as these former champs do insist on fighting, they could at least make up somewhat intriguing matches by fighting one another. Or does Rahman want a piece of some of the younger guys? We’ll find out in the months ahead.