Rahman Draws with Toney

ATLANTIC CITY, NJ - Hasim Rahman retained his World Boxing Council heavyweight title by fighting to a 12-round majority draw with James Toney on Saturday night.

Rahman outworked Toney and landed the harder punches in a uninspiring fight in front of 8,427 at the Boardwalk Hall arena.

In a bout that featured no knockdowns and plenty of pawing, Rahman easily won the scorecard of judge John Steward, 117-111, but was overruled by judges Tom Kaczmarek and Nobuaki Uratani, who had the fight at 114-114.

"I definitely thought I won the fight...I am the champ," Rahman said. "I won the fight clear. The judge who had it 117-111 was accurate."

Rahman pressed the action throughout the bout but often found himself being outboxed on the inside by the smaller but pudgier Toney, who weighed in at 237 pounds.

"I saw myself winning by two or three points, but that's the name of the game," said Toney, the former middleweight, super middleweight, and cruiserweight champion who checked in at a career-high 238 pounds for the bout. "He was scared. Nobody knocked out James Toney."

After a tactical first two rounds, the 37-year-old Toney began to open up in the third as he landed flush heavy shots to the head of Rahman, who kept trading back.

Despite having advantages in height and reach along with being a natural heavyweight, Rahman fought small, not using his strengths as he let Toney dictate the pace.

In the opening minute of the fifth, Rahman found some offence as he landed rights to the head of the challenger, who seemed to be tiring.

Both fighters came out trading to start the following round, but the pace slowed as the crowd grew restless and booed the lethargic pugilists.

Toney found a second wind in the eighth round. He won the inside battle in the corner later in the round as the crowd began chanting, "Toney, Toney, Toney."

With the draw, Rahman moves his record to 41-5-2 with 33 KOs; Toney goes to 69-4-3 with 43 KOs and 1 no contest.

Sonny Banerjee
Editor-in-chief

Information from other publications and wire services was used in the compilation of this report.