Hasim Rahman

Hasim Shariff Rahman was born in Baltimore, Maryland on 7 November 1972.¹ As a teenager he worked as an enforcer for drug dealers and survived several shootings and a near-fatal car accident that left permanent scarring on his cheek and ear.¹ He took up boxing only at 20, had ten amateur bouts, and made his professional debut on 3 December 1994.¹ On 22 April 2001 in Brakpan, South Africa, as a 20-to-1 underdog, he knocked out Lennox Lewis in the fifth round to win the unified WBC, IBF, IBO and lineal heavyweight titles.¹ Lewis knocked him out in the fourth round of the rematch on 17 November 2001.¹ Rahman beat Monte Barrett in August 2005 for the WBC interim title, was elevated to full WBC champion that November after Vitali Klitschko retired, drew with James Toney in March 2006 and lost the title to Oleg Maskaev that August.¹ His career record stands at 63 fights, 50 wins (41 by knockout), 10 losses and 2 draws.¹

Rahman won the USBA heavyweight title in July 1997 and the IBF Intercontinental title four months later.¹ He lost to David Tua in December 1998 and to Oleg Maskaev in November 1999, then beat Corrie Sanders in May 2000 before his title shot against Lewis.¹ After losing the rematch to Lewis he lost to Evander Holyfield in June 2002 and to John Ruiz in December 2003, then rebuilt with wins over Kali Meehan and Monte Barrett.¹ He lost a second bout with Maskaev in 2006 and a WBA title challenge against Wladimir Klitschko in December 2008, and fought a comeback bout in September 2026.¹ His son Hasim Rahman Jr. is also a professional boxer.¹

This section sets out different positions as reported in the sources. It is not a verdict by the museum. The English article states that Rahman is a practising Muslim and was fasting in the month of Ramadan when he faced Lennox Lewis.¹ No source consulted names a school for him, and public practice is not an attestation of a school, so his school is recorded in the museum's data as unknown.¹

• Hasim Rahman — English Wikipedia¹