Thursday, June 17, 2004 | 8:56 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
Feeling a need to keep himself busy as he awaits another crack at a heavyweight championship, ex-champ Hasim Rahman of Las Vegas is fighting tonight for the third time in four months.
Rahman will take on Rob Calloway at Michael's Eighth Avenue Club in Glen Burnie, Md., just down the road from Rahman's native Baltimore.
While admitting to being a huge favorite to win the fight, Rahman acknowledged the danger during a phone conversation from Baltimore this week.
"It hurts me more fighting these kinds of guys, because it's not always easy to be 100 percent mentally ready," he said. "Guys like Calloway can catch you sleeping."
Calloway is 47-4-1 with 34 knockouts and doesn't figure to be a pushover for Rahman, who is 37-5-1 with 30 KOs.
"He's got nothing to lose," Rahman said. "It's a win-win situation for him, so I've got to impose my will on him."
Calloway, a former cruiserweight, has never been knocked out or stopped.
"He's in position to change his life," promoter Scott Wagner said of Calloway. "He runs a fitness center and is in tremendous shape. He's prepared for the challenge in front of him and it's a compelling fight."
Calloway is coming off a loss to heavyweight prospect Audley Harrison, while Rahman is enjoying a brief string of victories that includes a decision win against former cruiserweight champion Al Cole in March and a two-round stoppage of Mario Cawley in April.
"It's starting to be about how I look when I win," Rahman admitted. "I can't just keep saying what I'm going to do, I have to go out and do it and look impressive.
"I've got to get in shape, stay in shape and make some noise."
Rahman, 31, has made some noise in the heavyweight division before, earning the World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation world titles in 2001 by knocking out Lennox Lewis in five rounds in South Africa.
But he lost those titles in the return bout, as Lewis defeated Rahman by fourth-round knockout in the Nov. 17, 2001, rematch at Mandalay Bay.
"The general perception was that it was too much, too soon," Wagner said of Rahman's stunning ascension to the heavyweight championship. "But Rock's such an engaging, likable person that he's certainly marketable as the heavyweight champion.
"He's candid, he's witty and he's smart."
He's also a big puncher with a noted counter right hand and good size at 255 pounds.
His only known weaknesses in the ring are a questionable chin and something of an inability to fight off the ropes.
Rahman has fought a number of the division's stars but as his five losses indicate, he hasn't always come out ahead.
He was beaten by David Tua in a 1998 fight that included a controversial ending, Tua having hit Rahman after the bell to end Round 9 and then dominating Rahman in the closing 10th.
Rahman then slipped in prestige by losing to Oleg Maskaev by eighth-round stoppage, before bouncing back to defeat Corrie Sanders.
The two fights with Lewis -- plus a scuffle on an ESPN set -- followed, with Rahman pummeled in a rematch that came to an end with him bleeding from a cut over his left eye and spread eagle on the canvas. "He's the Buster Douglas of the 21st Century," Lewis said derogatorily after regaining his belts.
Rahman then lost an eighth-round technical, split decision to Evander Holyfield in a fight that concluded with Rahman sporting a grotesque swelling on his temple.
A loss to John Ruiz and a split draw vs. Tua in a rematch had Rahman appearing as if his best days had passed.
That's when he ran into Wagner.
"What I'm doing with Rock is creating activity for him," Wagner said. "The idea is to keep him busy, and if it works it's a model that could be used by other fighters in any weight class who feel they're going through a slump."
Although Wagner is working on Rahman's behalf, Don King remains the fighter's promoter of record (as he has since handing Rahman $500,000 in cash and a check for $4.5 million in 2001).
"It certainly doesn't affect me negatively," Rahman said of being associated with King, who promotes current heavyweight champions Ruiz and Chris Byrd. The inference is that King will put Rahman -- who is ranked No. 1 by the World Boxing Association -- in with one of those champions sometime in the near future.
"Ruiz or Byrd or (Vitali) Klitschko, I'll fight any of those guys," Rahman said. "We've tried to get a fight together with Byrd a number of times in the past and we're talking about it again, but there's nothing concrete.
"A lot of guys are scared to fight him, but I don't think he looks so scary right now."
He says the same thing about the division as a whole.
"I feel like -- and every heavyweight feels like -- it's wide open for the taking," Rahman said. "I feel I can beat any of the guys out there, and in my case I've already beaten the linear champion (Lewis) and another guy (Sanders) who went on to become a champion.
"I've done this before and I think it's just a matter of time before I strap on the belt and take on all comers and reign for a while."
But it's all out the door if he can't get past Calloway.
"They say he's a durable fighter," Rahman said. "But this isn't about him. And it's not just about me winning the fight, because it won't be any surprise if I do.
"It's about winning in spectacular fashion."
Wagner, listening in on the conversation, agreed.
"A knockout is certainly what he has in mind," he said of Rahman's immediate goal in Glen Burnie.
WBC light heavyweight champ Antonio Tarver has offered to defend his title against Graciano Rocchigiani, but only if Rocchigiani settles his legal situation with the WBC. The WBC is facing insolvency in the aftermath of a court ruling that it pay Rocchigiani $31 million to cover damages for stripping him of his title in 1998. ... An injured left hand has knocked Wayne McCullough off a Saturday card in London, but the former world champion from Las Vegas said he hopes to be back in the ring by August. ... Rafael Marquez will defend his IBF bantamweight title against Herberito Ruiz as part of the July 31 card at the MGM. ... A fight between ex-champ Steve Forbes of Las Vegas and WBA interim junior lightweight champion Yodsanan Nantachai of Thailand is being discussed.
Featherweight William Abelyan of Las Vegas takes a 14-fight winning streak into his bout with Scott Harrison Saturday in Scotland. Abelyan, 23-4-1, has not lost since being stopped in one round by Victor Polo in 2000. He opened his career 0-2 before rising to defeat such fighters as Guty Espadas, Jesus Salud and Alvin Brown. ... Ricardo Mayorga, who fights Felix Trinidad Oct. 2 in New York, said this week he is "bored with boxing" and will retire next year. "I don't want any more boxing," he said before adding that he will defeat Trinidad in their fight at 160 pounds. "Everybody knows that Trinidad is weak in the head," Mayorga said. "So I have 12 rounds to hit him in the head and knock him out."
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