Solid as the 'Rock'

Rahman's confidence has grown since winning the title

By BBC Sport Online's Tom Fordyce

In the film "Rocky", Sylvester Stallone's character gets a surprising chance to fight for the world title, but comes up just short.

Hasim Rahman, who shares the same nickname as Stallone's Rocky Balboa, went one better and took the titles away from the champion, Britain's Lennox Lewis.

While Rahman was hardly picked from obscurity in the same way as Balboa, no-one gave him a chance to beat Lewis in South Africa in April.

Right state of mind

The 29-year-old overcame many setbacks to earn his title shot, as well scepticism about his credentials as a top heavyweight.

When he lost to unheralded Russian Oleg Maskaev in November 1999, Rahman's days as a contender seemed over.

But a career rethink got him back into position so that by the time he challenged Lewis, he was in the right state of mind and fitness to do damage to the champion.

Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Rahman only began boxing at the age of 20 - to escape, he says, from life on the streets as an enforcer - and fought just 10 times as an amateur.

After turning pro in 1994 he put together an impressive 28 wins on the bounce, including defeats of Ross Purrity, Obed Sullivan and Jesse Ferguson.

  Hasim Rahman fact file

Born: 7 November 1972

Height: 6ft 2ins

Reach: 82 in

Debut: 3 December 1994 v Gregory Herrington

Record: 34 victories (28 KOs), two defeats (one KO, one TKO)

Trainer: Chuck MacGregor

His first setback came in his first big bout, an IBF title eliminator against David Tua in 1998 that was carried live on America's HBO network.

Rahman dominated the fight against the man Lennox Lewis out-pointed last November, using his jab to build up what looked to be an insurmountable lead.

Then, after the bell had rung for the end of the ninth round, Tua landed a left hook.

Rahman was given no time by the referee to recover from the late blow and was stopped in the 10th as Tua swarmed all over him.

His other defeat was similarly controversial.

Rahman was once accused of lacking fitness

Fighting Maskaev on 7 November 1999, he was knocked out of the ring in the eighth round, hit his head on a TV monitor and was ruled out by a doctor.

But those two setbacks seem to have focused the mind of Rahman, who was clearly never short of talent, but sometimes lacked motivation.

Against Lewis, he operated on the theory that whatever punches he had to take were worth the sacrifice, as long as he landed some blows of his own.

Crucially, he came up with that right hand which separated Lewis from his senses and the heavyweight title.