by Rick Folstad
Hasim Rahman is a carnival pony caught in the starting gate at Belmont. He's not really supposed to be there but it's too late to stop the race now.
He's like the quiet guy on your high school football team who always played second string and was always running the other team's plays. You didn't even know his name until the night he somehow got in the game and recovered a fumble in the end zone to win the championship.
Now you know his name, but he's still not good enough to play first string.
Seven months ago, that was Rahman, a guy on the bench waiting for his chance to get in the game.
Then one day, someone puts him in, offers him an opportunity of a lifetime. Fight Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight championship of the world. Not exactly Rocky stuff, but pretty damn close. And what does he do? He wins. Lands a million-dollar right hand. Sees the ball rolling around on the ground at his feet and jumps on it.
The carnival pony wins by three lengths.
Lewis? He's a Kentucky thoroughbred that forgot to train, the football hero who fumbled the ball. All-state, all-American, all-everything, he drops back to pass and suddenly loses his grip. Ball pops out, Rahman lands on it, history made, season lost.
But there's a reason Lewis dropped the ball. Just ask him. He got in late the night before the game. He didn't study game film. He didn't take the other team seriously. And hey, that ball was really slippery.
So now they're going to try it again in a rematch on Nov. 17, the scrub trying to prove he's a starter, the star trying to prove last time was a fluke.
So what's different?
First, becoming a champion sometimes changes a fighter, makes him better. He starts feeling like a champion and suddenly, he starts fighting like one.
That's Rahman's advantage. That and the hand he writes with. Punchers always have a chance. And regardless of what happens, Rahman can tell his grand kids he was once heavyweight champion of the world.
For Lewis, his advantage is his pride. It took a back-alley beating when he lost to Rahman. He needs to get it back and the only way he can do that is through redemption. He needs to prove to himself and the world that the first fight was just a mistake.
Who's going to win?
The only way Rahman wins this fight is if they blindfold Lewis.
Why? Because Lewis is still a starter, still a football hero. Rahman, big punch and all, is still second string. When this fight is over, he goes back to the bench.
Hey, isn't that Buster Douglas sitting there?