Boxing: Heavyweights in clash of styles

Boxer James Toney will fight WBC heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman in Atlantic City, New Jersey, this weekend. Picture / Reuters

NEW YORK - Hasim Rahman makes the first defence of his second reign as World Boxing Council heavyweight champion against fellow-American James Toney this weekend in a bout pitting power against skills.

The hard-punching Rahman says he would love to see Toney stand up to him in the ring in Atlantic City as the former world champion in three other weight classes has vowed.

"He will be a bloody mess in the first round if he stands in front of me," Rahman, 33, said yesterday.

"He underestimates my power. My power is a big factor and will set the tone for this fight. Once he gets hit with it, I'm not so sure what adjustments he can make," said Rahman, who has a 41-5-1 record, with 33 wins coming within the distance.

Toney, 37, a natural boxer and counter-puncher who has moved up in class over the years from middleweight, must get inside to overcome a reach disadvantage. He has used his defensive skills to do just that against other opponents.

"I'll knock him out in the middle rounds," predicted the short and stocky Toney, who has stopped 43 opponents in posting a 69-4-2 mark. "I'm excited, I'm ready. I'm ready to explode."

The match features a pair of fighters with something to prove and two men who yearn for the chance to revitalise a heavyweight division full of champions - Nikolai Valuev (WBA), Chris Byrd (IBF) and Lamon Brewster (WBO) - who have yet to prove they can dominate.

Rahman knocked Briton Lennox Lewis out flat with a devastating right in April 2001 to win the WBC and International Boxing Federation titles.

Rahman was knocked out by Lewis in the rematch and has been up-and-down since. He was awarded the WBC crown after Vitali Klitschko, who cancelled four fight dates against Rahman due to injury, retired.

- REUTERS