Thunder in Africa: Recalling Hasim Rahman's Shock Win Over Lennox Lewis

On April 22 in 2001, Hasim Rahman shocked the boxing world by beating Lennox Lewis.

The Rock, a 20-1 underdog, claimed the WBC, IBF and IBO heavyweight titles in sensational fashion, flooring the defending champion in the fifth round in Gauteng, South Africa.

Lewis was ahead on all three scorecards when he was stopped, in the process losing for just the second time as a professional.

Here we take a look back at what happened before, during and after that fateful night.

The setting

Carnival City Casino was the unlikely venue for the clash, which was billed as Thunder in Africa.

The New York Times called it “the biggest fight in South Africa’s history” and it revived memories of the Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire, back in 1974.

There were two major issues the boxers had to take into consideration.

Firstly, as confirmed by BoxRec, Brakpan in Gauteng sits at 5,200 feet above sea level. The site for the bout meant that, as well as one another, the two rivals also had to deal with fighting at high altitude.

The start time was also unusual.

Because of the desire to air the contest at a reasonable hour in the United States, the bout was scheduled to begin at 5 a.m. in South Africa.

The build-up

As John Rawling pointed out in an article for The Guardian in December, 2001: “Rahman was supposedly a no-risk money earner for Lewis while the champion waited for the real jackpot night against Mike Tyson.”

The Brit had been chasing a lucrative fight with Iron Mike for some time. But, instead, he signed a deal to face Rahman, with BoxRec listing the champion's purse at $7 million.

The 28-year-old challenger was far from a pushover, though, boasting a 34-2 record. He had, however, been beaten by David Tua, a fighter Lewis had comfortably out-pointed in his previous outing.

ERIC JAMISON/Associated Press

Lewis only flew into Johannesburg from the United States with less than two weeks to go before the fight.

Bob Mee reported in The Telegraph that the South African doctors who examined Lewis diagnosed him with “extreme jet lag” on his arrival.

He had based his training camp in Las Vegas but still managed to take the time out of his schedule to do three days of filming on the set of Ocean’s Eleven, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

Rahman, in contrast, had travelled well in advance of fight night, arriving around a month early to help him adjust to his surroundings. He had already been getting acclimatised to the altitude by working out in New York's Catskill Mountains, per Dan Rafael of USA Today.

Having prepared diligently, the man from Baltimore was adamant he could upset the odds.

So too was his manager, Stan Hoffman, as he reportedly placed a seven-figure wager on his fighter to triumph. In an interview with Radio Five Live (h/t BBC Sport), Hoffman said: “I think this will be the beginning of Lennox’s retirement.”

Part of the reason why Rahman and his camp were so confident was Lewis’ physical state.

At the age of 35, he tipped the scales at 18 stone and one pound, the heaviest he had ever weighed for a bout during his career to date.

Lewis, for his part, believed he could defy medical convention, per Steve Springer of the Los Angeles Times: "I don't believe everything the scientists say about altitude. It will be no problem. (Rahman) shouldn't worry so much about the altitude. He should just worry about me."

The fight

Despite all the warning signs, few saw Lewis coming a cropper in the fight.

Even if he had Tyson on his mind, even if he had failed to dedicate himself to training properly, both in terms of his opponent and the conditions, his talent was likely to be enough to get him through.

However, it soon became clear that The Lion was feeling the heat in Africa.

In his story on the fight for The Telegraph, Mee wrote that Lewis was “laboured and heavy-footed” while also found himself “tossing cumbersome right hands.”

He managed to do enough to be two points up in the eyes of all three judges by the end of the fourth round, aided by the fact he had both a height and reach advantage over Rahman.

The fifth, though, saw the fight come to an emphatic end.

Backed up against the ropes as he looked to preserve energy in the final minute, Lewis dropped his guard. Rahman sensed his moment to strike, sending in a right hand that landed flush on his rival's chin.

The blow put Lewis on the canvas. The Associated Press said in its fight report (h/t the Los Angeles Times) that the American was “dancing around the ring” even while referee Daniel van der Wiele counted out the champion, such was his confidence that the bout was over.

And so, just like that, Rahman had rocked the heavyweight division.

He had silenced all the talk about Lewis versus Tyson and, just as his manager had predicted, had won by knockout. He'd also just made certain of several lucrative paydays, all with just one punch.

In his post-fight interview a shell-shocked Lewis told BBC Sport: "I felt fine in there. This is what happens in heavyweight boxing—you get hit with a good shot, you go down. If you don't beat the count, that's it—fight stopped.”

He was also quick to call for a rematch. It was a wish that would eventually be granted, though only after going through the courts.

Lewis’ trainer, the late Emanuel Steward, told William Fotheringham of The Guardian later the same year that the issue for his fighter had not been a lack of fitness in South Africa, but a lack of focus:

"

Lennox was in shape—he was never lax in his training. He didn't have the mental focus and intensity that he had in his previous fights.

He was involved in a big lawsuit with his previous promoter Panos Eliades, and he also did a movie [Ocean's Eleven] which he had committed to a long time in the past. 

As soon as he arrived in South Africa he got involved in a war with the local promoter and they were continually bad-mouthing each other.

"

The rematch

Lewis had to fight hard just to get a second chance at the new champion.

He maintained there was a clause in the initial contract for a rematch, filing a lawsuit to force it through.

Rahman, who by now had signed a deal with promoter Don King, had little choice but to accept the verdict of the judge: failing to do so would have resulted in him being banned from fighting for 18 months.

A date was eventually set for November 11, 2001.

This time there would be no altitude issues to cope with, considering the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas was chosen to stage the event.

Lewis and Rahman didn’t even wait for the first bell to get at each other.

The pair ended up brawling during an American television show two months before the bout, after Rahman claimed his opponent had “acted gay” in the manner in which he had used the legal system to gain an immediate rematch.

In reply, Lewis said, per Dan Rookwood of The Guardian: “I am 200 percent a woman’s man. If you are worried about that, bring your sister.”

A scuffle ensued on the set, adding further fuel to the fire in their rivalry.

When it came time to actually fighting in the ring, Lewis quickly showed there had been no cutting corners second time around.

He claimed back the three titles he had lost earlier in the year with a brutal stoppage in the fourth round, landing a big right hand of his own to bring about an early finish.

The 1988 Olympic gold medal winner, who had competed at the Games for Canada, branded his beaten foe, per Sanjeev Shetty of BBC Sport, "Has-been Rahman," adding: “He is the Buster Douglas of the 21st century.”

The aftermath

Lewis wasn’t quite right about Rahman being old news—he would go on to become a world champion again, even if he was handed the WBC belt initially due to the retirement of Vitali Klitschko late in 2005.

Oleg Maskaev took the title from him with a 12th-round TKO victory the following year.

There were two further failed attempts to reclaim a world strap, against Wladimir Klitschko in 2008 and then Alexander Povetkin four years later.

DAVID J. PHILLIP/Associated Press

Rahman's pro record reads 50-9-2, with the last of his bouts being in a Super 8 Heavyweight tournament in New Zealand in 2014.

As for Lewis, he got his wish for a long-awaited fight with Tyson in 2002.

He became involved in another pre-fight brawl, one that ended up with him being beaten on the leg, before knocking out the legendary American in the eighth round in Memphis.

He fought just once more after that, getting the better of Vitali Klitschko in the summer of 2003, before retiring as the WBC and IBO champion.

His final record was 41-2-1 (32 KO), with both his defeats (Oliver McCall was the only other man to beat him) being avenged in rematches.