Hasim Rahman has two months before he has to defend his WBC heavyweight title against James Toney. But the Las Vegan wishes it were more like two weeks.
Always a confident and outspoken fighter, Rahman vowed he would fight like he never has before when he makes his first title defense on March 18 in Atlantic City.
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Rahman is in his second reign as champion. His first was brief, as he was knocked out in his first title defense by Lennox Lewis, the man he upset in South Africa in 2001 to win the belt.
Rahman made all sorts of outrageous predictions about what he would do to Lewis, but was unable to back up his boastful words and was knocked out in the fourth round.
The difference five years later, Rahman said, is maturity and a new-found commitment to conditioning.
Leonard Ellerbe, his strength and conditioning coach, said Rahman is already in superb shape. And Rahman, 33, said that in two weeks, he'll be in better shape than he ever has for a fight.
"People can believe what they want to believe, but in this fight, I'm going to be the best Hasim Rahman the world has seen," he said. "Of all the fights I've had, right now, I'm two weeks away from being in the best shape of any fight I've had. In two months, come on. I don't even want to think about it."
Toney, who won the WBA title from John Ruiz on April 30 only to have it stripped several weeks later when he tested positive for an anabolic steroid, is one of the sport's finest defensive fighters.
He has vowed to stand in front of Rahman and dare Rahman to try to hit him.
Toney said that not only won't Rahman be able to connect consistently, he predicted he would knock Rahman out. Toney is a former middleweight champion who weighed 169 or less in his first 36 professional fights.
Rahman has been a heavyweight his entire career and is one of the division's biggest punchers.
He said he can't envision Toney being able to stand in front of him for three minutes a round and finish the fight on his feet.
"James can talk and he can say whatever he wants," Rahman said. "But I hope the man comes in tremendous shape, because he's going to need to be. I feel I can be hit by him with whatever and survive, but I'm not so sure he's going to be able to stand up to these bombs.
"He might be counting on his defense and making me miss. And I might miss some, but I'm not going to miss everything. And when I do land, that's when he's got big problems."
Rahman has had his share of problems since winning the title, including a bankruptcy, battles with former promoter Don King, losses to Lewis, Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz and a draw with David Tua.
But he said he's confronted the enemy and found it within.
"The only one who can beat me is me, but the truth is, I've beaten myself too many times," Rahman said. "I want to be the champion, not a champion. And to get that kind of recognition, I know I have to win fights against guys like Toney and I have to be consistent. I have to add on each time, one on top of the other, instead of having a great fight here and two bad ones there.
"I have a lot of peace of mind now. I have a promoter who is doing what is best for me. I've got a great team of people preparing me and, probably more than anything, I've finally realized what I have to do to tap this talent that I have. This is a year I make my statement in the ring, not on paper."
• COTTO SET -- Miguel Cotto won all three of his fights in 2005 and retained his WBO super lightweight championship, but in many quarters, the Puerto Rican had a rough year.
He suffered a broken eardrum in his first bout of the year, with DeMarcus Corley, and was dropped by both Corley and Ricardo Torres.
Top Rank, which promotes him, has held him out since his win over Torres in September, to give him time to allow his eardrum to heal.
He'll fight for the first time in 2006 on a March 4 HBO card against Gianluca Branco.
Cotto, though, wouldn't blame his eardrum for being dropped twice and staggered at least five times.
"I'm a fighter and when you fight, you take punches every now and then," said Cotto, who apparently never heard of boxing referred to as "the manly art of self defense."
His attacking style caused HBO boxing analyst Larry Merchant to dub him the "Puerto Rican Gatti" in homage to the wild slugfests that former world champion Arturo Gatti would engage in.
And Cotto, who is 25-0 with 21 knockouts, doesn't plan to change his style any time soon.
But nor is he going to make a push -- publicly, at least -- to upgrade his competition. There are a slew of potential big-money opponents, from WBA/IBF champion Ricky Hatton to WBC champion Floyd Mayweather Jr., but Cotto declined to call anyone out.
"It's up to my promoter who I fight" he said, repeatedly, even when pressed. "I just fight. It's their job to pick who I fight."
• UNCONSCIONABLE -- In yet two more displays of the corrupt and inept behavior by the boxing sanctioning bodies comes the news that not only has Felix Trinidad moved up in the WBC's middleweight rankings but that the IBF still recognizes Zab Judah as the welterweight champion.
A poorly prepared Judah, who apparently spent more time in his training camp taunting Carlos Baldomir than in getting ready to fight him, lost a unanimous decision on Jan. 7 in New York.
But Baldomir only paid the three percent sanction fee for the WBC belt, but not the WBA or the IBF belt.
He explained that because he was making $100,000, too much of his money would have gone to sanctioning fees (and, of course, taxes) had he paid the IBF and WBA as well.
So despite the fact that Judah lost -- and was nearly knocked out -- the IBF has chosen to continue to recognize Judah as its welterweight champion, even though no one else will.
Not even Bob Arum, who will promote an April 8 pay-per-view card with Judah against Mayweather.
Trinidad lost every round in his fight with Winky Wright in May and announced that he was choosing to retire again.
But the WBC has Trinidad sixth at middleweight in its current ratings, up from seventh.
• AND THIS? -- Newly crowned WBA heavyweight champion Nicolay Valuev isn't looking for much competition.
On April 1, he'll defend the belt he lifted last month from Las Vegan John Ruiz against either DaVarryl Williamson, Monte Barrett, Owen Beck, Ray Austin or Donnell Holmes.
Williamson was so petrified in his Oct. 1 IBF title "fight" with Las Vegan Chris Byrd he rarely threw a punch and was implored repeatedly to fight by referee Vic Drakulich.
Barrett is coming off a lackluster loss to Rahman and Beck, Austin and Holmes are varying levels of journeymen.
