Rahman Earns Draw to Retain WBC Crown

ATLANTIC CITY, March 18 -- Despite a focused, methodical attack over 12 bristling rounds of boxing, Hasim Rahman could only retain his WBC heavyweight title by a majority draw against challenger James Toney on Saturday night at Boardwalk Hall.

Rahman (41-5-2, 33 knockouts) entered the fight with a reputation for two things: knocking out Lennox Lewis with one punch to take the world heavyweight title in 2001 and inconsistency from that fight on.

But in the first defense of his crown, handed to him by the World Boxing Council after top-ranked Vitali Klitschko retired with an injury, Rahman fought perhaps the best fight of his life after the win over Lewis.

He stalked Toney from the opening bell, working fast behind a stiff left jab and landed thudding rights to the body and left kidney area throughout the fight. Toney (69-4-3, 43 knockouts) landed shots from all angles throughout the fight, inviting Rahman to infight and firing counter uppercuts and hooks.

But while Rahman, 33, appeared to control the action except for brief rallies by Toney, two of the three judges saw the fight as even. Judge John Steward scored it 117-111 for Rahman, but Thomas Kaczmarek and Nobuaki Uratani both scored it a 114-114 draw.

"I think the judge who scored 117-111 was the accurate judge," said Rahman, who was cut over the left eye and bleeding from the mouth. "Even though it was a draw, I'm still the champ. I've got unfinished business with Toney."

Toney, 37, weighed 237 for the fight, the highest in a career that began as a middleweight in 1988. He entered the fight with 148 rounds of experience in championship bouts and is widely considered one of the most well-schooled boxers in the sport.

But Rahman was able to match his craft inside, withstanding sneaky looping right hands and countering hard whenever Toney seemed to build momentum.

The fight appeared to be fought at a pace usually seen in middleweight fights. Indeed, according to punch count numbers tabulated at ringside, Rahman threw 933 punches in the bout compared with 633 by Toney.

Rahman scored particularly well in the middle rounds. In the eighth, he landed a double right-hand combination that shook Toney along the ropes approximately a minute into the round. Toney attempted to rally, but Rahman knocked him across the ring into the ropes.

At that moment, Toney, for the first time in the fight, looked exhausted, and Rahman stepped up his body attack. Yet in the ninth round, Toney made a stand, landing a powerful right hand, perhaps his best of the fight.

The two fighters went to the ropes and slugged it out in terrific action.

Over the final three rounds, Toney appeared to close the gap, and Uratani, in fact, gave him the final five rounds on his scorecard.

"I thought I won it by two or three points," Toney said. "He was kind of scared.

"Nobody knocks James Toney out. But we had the edge."

A win by either fighter might have cleared the muddled heavyweight picture. Chris Byrd remains the International Boxing Federation champion and Lamon Brewster the World Boxing Organization titlist. Now, a rematch between Rahman and Toney appears likely.

Boxing Notes: On the undercard, heavyweight Tony "The Tiger" Thompson of Silver Spring scored a fourth-round technical knockout of Maurice Wheeler of Philadelphia in a scheduled eight-round bout. Thompson (27-1, 17 knockouts) doubled over Wheeler (10-5-1) with a left hand to the body, and referee Samuel Viruet stopped the fight.