ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - When Hasim Rahman steps into the ring at Boardwalk Hall for tonight's 12-round heavyweight fight against Evander Holyfield, his motivation will be simple: to prove that his one-punch knockout of Lennox Lewis, which made him Baltimore's first world heavyweight champion, was not a fluke.
And if he can't defeat Holyfield, Rahman said, he will retire.
"This is do or die for me," said Rahman, 29, who lost the crown he won in April 2001 in a November rematch with Lewis. "I'm not in boxing to be an opponent, so if I can't be heavyweight champion of the world, I don't need to be in this business."
At Thursday's weigh-in at Kennedy Plaza, Rahman showed the effects of a new diet and the strict training regimen under new trainer Bouie Fisher. He came in at a surprisingly low 224 pounds to 216 for Holyfield.
Rahman has not weighed below 230 since knocking out Herman Delgado in two rounds on Dec. 17, 1996. His previous lows were 217 for a Jan. 6, 1995, first-round knockout of Robert Jackson in his second professional fight and 220 for a May 3, 1996, second-round KO of Steve Edwards.
"I haven't had any cheeseburgers. Cheese was the hardest thing to give up, because I put cheese on everything," said Rahman, who weighed 236 for his last fight against Lewis, and has a career high of 245. "It's a little light. I thought I'd come in maybe 231, 232. I definitely worked it off; it wasn't just diet. But whatever I weighed, if I weighed 199, I feel strong."
The bout will mark the debut of boxing at the refurbished, 13,800-seat Boardwalk Hall, whose new look finally is complete after 2 1/2 years and $90 million. No other venue in this gambling town has more than about 2,000 seats.
The Rahman-Holyfield winner becomes the No. 1 contender for the World Boxing Council version of Lewis' heavyweight title. The winner also assumes the No. 2 ranking in the International Boxing Federation behind champion Lewis and top contender Chris Byrd. Lewis will defend his titles against Mike Tyson on June 8 in Memphis, Tenn.
Though Holyfield is 10 years older than Rahman, the fighters have a lot of common, including devotion to their religion (Rahman is a Muslim, Holyfield a Christian) and a mutual respect for each other.
"We've displayed ourselves as athletes who don't really have to hate each other in order for people to realize that we're both good," said Holyfield, the sport's only four-time champion.
