Atlantic City, N.J. -- Hasim Rahman's last four fights here have varied from bizarre to exciting to boring.
On Nov. 6, 1999, the day before Rahman's 27th birthday, the fighter was knocked out of the ring and into the lap of HBO commentator Jim Lampley, resulting in an eighth-round loss to Russian Oleg Maskaev.
In May 2000, Rahman overcame an early knockdown to defeat 6-foot-7 South African Corrie Sanders, whom he pinned on the ropes and nailed with nearly 40 unanswered blows before the bout was stopped.
Rahman, a Baltimore native, then lost the next two times he fought in this city - once by eighth-round technical decision in June 2002 to Evander Holyfield, whose accidental head butt left his opponent with a baseball-sized knot on the left side of his forehead; and the other by 12-round decision in December 2003 to John Ruiz, whose jab-and-grab style was effective against Rahman, but effectively put ringsiders to sleep.
Rahman (41-5-1, 33 knockouts) will have no room for error tonight at Boardwalk Hall when he makes his first defense of his World Boxing Council title against plump, 37-year-old defensive wizard James Toney (69-4-2, 43 KOs), a man boxing historian Bert Sugar called "a throw-back fighter" who can "use his shoulders to block punches and set himself up to counter like very few fighters today."
Toney, who stands just 5 feet 9, weighs 237 - his heaviest for a bout.
"Toney looks like you could write `Goodyear' on his backside and float him in the the Macy's parade," Sugar said, referring to Toney's weight problems. "But don't be mistaken about James' ability - it's the best in the heavyweight division. It's going to take Rahman on a good day to even give James a battle."
Toney enters as a slight favorite, but Rahman, 33, said being the underdog brings out the best in him. Rahman said he felt similarly in his first fight with Lennox Lewis, whom he knocked out in April 2001 to become undisputed champion only to lose their rematch seven months later.
He also felt that way against Sanders and David Tua - a draw in March of 2003 that most observers thought Rahman won.
"Toney is an excellent boxer and fighter and a first-ballot Hall of Famer," said Rahman, whose six-bout winning streak includes four KOs. "If I feel like there's a threat in front of me, I go to the well, I dig down deep and bring out whatever I need to bring out.
