Lennox Lewis vs. Hasim Rahman, billed as Thunder in Africa, was a heavyweight professional boxing match contested between unified WBC, IBF, IBO, and lineal champion Lennox Lewis, and Hasim Rahman. The bout took place on 22 April 2001 in Brakpan, South Africa. Rahman, who was a 20–1 underdog, won by knockout in the fifth round. It was one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

Following three successful title defenses in 2000, Lennox Lewis turned his sights on a potential superfight with Mike Tyson. Lewis had originally hoped to meet Tyson during the summer of 2001, however, Tyson was issued a three-month suspension early in the year after testing positive for marijuana following his 2000 fight with Andrew Golota. Lewis opted to make his next defense against little-known Hasim Rahman. Lewis came into the fight as a 20–1 favorite and paid little attention to his opponent, having begun negotiations for his long-awaited match with Tyson while also being challenged to a possible unification match by WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz. Brakpan, Gauteng, South Africa, is 5,200 feet above sea level. Rahman arrived on 27 March so he would have time to adjust to the high altitude, but Lewis didn’t arrive until 10 April. Lewis trained in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is 2,000 feet above sea level. He trained in Las Vegas so he could also film scenes for a cameo appearance in the movie Ocean’s Eleven. Notwithstanding the altitude challenges, the actual fight itself took place at an odd time, 05:00 (SAST) on Sunday 22 April 200 in order to accommodate HBO’s significant United States-based audience at a reasonable hour on Saturday 21 April 2001. After Lewis was knocked out by Rahman, HBO commentator Larry Merchant said, “He just drowned in Ocean’s Eleven.”

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Zhilei Zhang 25–1–1 (20 KOs) vs. Joe Joyce 15–1 (14 KOs) II, billed as An Eye for An Eye, was a professional boxing match …

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Errol Spence Jr. 27–0 (21 KO) vs. Yordenis Ugás 27–4 (12 KO) was a professional boxing match contested on April 16, 2022, …

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Joe Joyce 15–0 (14 KOs) vs. Zhilei Zhang 24–1–1 (19 KOs) was a professional boxing match contested on for the WBO interim heavyweight title.

Joe Joyce won the WBO Interim World Heavyweight title in a September 2022 bout against Joseph Parker. Zhang’s last bout before facing Joyce was in August 2022 when he suffered his first loss to Croatian Filip Hrgović, after a close-fought battle where he lost by unanimous decision in what was described as a “generous” decision by broadcaster Sky Sports after a “bizarre” performance by Hrgović.

In December 2022, Joyce told Sky Sports that he planned to stay busy, next scheduling a fight for March 2023. No opponents were announced. There was still ongoing negotiations between Fury and Usyk. Fury previously stated, had talks broken down again, he would fight Joyce in the interim. Joyce also spoke about how he did not want to become inactive and wait for a title shot, like other contenders do. Instead, to stay active and improve himself in the ring. It was reported on 20 January 2023, 39 year old Chinese contender Zhilei was to challenge Joyce for the interim WBO title at on 15 April in London. No details had been finalised at this stage. Zhang was coming off a close decision loss to fellow contender Filip Hrgović, after dropping him in the opening round in August 2022.

When asked, Joyce said he would prefer to fight Fury over Usyk, but was not righting off Usyk. On 2 February, Queensberry Promotions announced Joyce would defend his WBO Interim heavyweight title at the Copper Box Arena in London against Zhang on 15 April. The fight would take place on regular BT Sport. Frank Warren explained, whilst they wanted to keep Joyce busy before an inevitable world title fight, he would still take on tough challenges. One of the reasons for fighting Zhang was due to him being southpaw, which would help prepare for a future showdown with Usyk. There was a lot of positive response for the fight and many saw it as a 50-50. Many also believed Zhang should have got the decision against Hrgović. Joyce spoke about his frustration at how Dubois got himself into a mandatory position and a world title fight before him. He also mentioned Hrgović being in a better position than him, but stated it was out of his control and all he could do was continue and win fights.

Prior to the fight taking place, Zhang warned, “Joe Joyce has good punch resistance but he has never felt Chinese power.” This was in reference to Joyce seemingly walking through previous opponents punches. Zhang’s trainer Shaun George said they were going into the fight to avoid ‘old-fashioned boxing politics’, and look for a stoppage. For the fight, two American judges, Mike Fitzgerald and Efrain Lebron, and one English judge, Phil Edwards were chosen by the BBBofC. British referee Howard Foster was chosen as the third man in the ring. George also voiced concern about the referee decision, as Foster had often been criticized for stopping fights early. Joyce stepped on the scales at 256 pounds, his lowest in four years. Zhang was a pound heavier than his previous fight, weighing in at 278 pounds.

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🗣️”You backed out of the fight‼️”

Eddie Hearn & Dana White respond to talk of their proposed fight.

#Boxing #DanaWhite #EddieHearn #UFC #Funny

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