Wladimir Klitschko Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in , . (born 25 March 1976) is a Ukrainian former professional boxer who competed from 1996 to 2017. He held multiple heavyweight world championships betwe ...

vs.

Hasim Rahman Hasim Sharif Rahman (born November 7, 1972) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He is a two-time world heavyweight champion, having held the unified World Boxing Council, WBC, International Boxing Federation, ...

, billed as "X-Plosive", was a professional boxing match contested on 13 December 2008 for the IBF,

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxin ...

, and IBO heavyweight championship.

Background

After unifying the IBF & WBO title by defeating

Sultan Ibragimov Sultan-Ahmed Magomedsalihovich Ibragimov (, ; born 8 March 1975) is a Russian former professional boxer. He competed from 2002 to 2008, and held the WBO world heavyweight title from 2007 to 2008. He was ranked by '' The Ring'' as the world's s ...

, Wladimir Klitschko made one title defence against WBO

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight (in a mandatory defence) or be forced to vacate their title as champion. The opposite of a mandatory defence is a ''volunt ...

Tony Thompson before agreeing to face his IBF mandatory

Alexander Povetkin Alexander Vladimirovich Povetkin (; born 2 September 1979) is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2021. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) ( Regular version) heavyweight title from 2011 to 2013; the World Boxing ...

. In October 2008 Povetkin withdrew with a leg injury, and with the second and third ranked contenders

Alexander Dimitrenko Alexander Viktorovych "Sascha" Dimitrenko (; born 5 July 1982) is a Ukrainian-born German former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019, and held the European heavyweight title from 2010 to 2011. Amateur career Dimitrenko began boxin ...

and

Chris Arreola Cristobal Arreola (born March 5, 1981) is an American former professional boxer who challenged three times for the WBC heavyweight title. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's No.8 heavyweight at the conclusion of 2007 and as No.7 heavyweigh ...

unavailable, Klitschko agreed to face former unified champion and fourth ranked IBF contender Hasim Rahman. Before agreeing to face Klitschko, Rahman had won four of his five fights since losing his WBC title in a close fight to

Oleg Maskaev Oleg Alexandrovich Maskaev (; born 2 March 1969) is a Kazakhstani-born former professional boxer of Mordvinian origin, who competed from 1995 to 2013, and held the WBC heavyweight title from 2006 to 2008. Throughout his career, he represented ...

, the fifth was a no contest with

James Toney James Nathaniel Toney (born August 24, 1968) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the International Boxing Federation (IBF) and lineal ...

. He was the NABF continental champion, having defeated

Zuri Lawrence Zuri Lawrence (born June 22, 1970) is an American professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2009. He is most well known for having never scored a knockout win in 44 professional fights. Career Lawrence has never fought for a major heavyweigh ...

for the title in 2007, and was retroactively ranked the world's 9th best heavyweight that year by BoxRec. He was also ranked within the top ten by both the IBF and WBO, and 12th by the WBC. He was aiming to join

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and social activist. A global cultural icon, widely known by the nickname "The Greatest", he is often regarded as the gr ...

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed championship (boxing), undisputed champion in the cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight division ...

, and

Lennox Lewis Lennox Claudius Lewis (born 2 September 1965) is a British-Canadian boxing commentator and former professional boxer who competed in the heavyweight division from 1989 to 2003. He was a three-time world champion, a two-time lineal champion, ...

as the only boxers ever to win a heavyweight title on three or more occasions. On the undercard, former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion

Riddick Bowe Riddick Lamont Bowe (born August 10, 1967) is an American former professional boxer and professional kickboxer who competed between 1989 and 2008 in boxing, and from 2013 to 2016 in kickboxing (Muay Thai). He held the undisputed world heavyweig ...

fought what would turn out to be the final fight of his career, beating journeyman Gene Pukall by an 8-round unanimous decision.

The fight

Klitschko dominated the fight winning every round on the scorecards (two judges had it 60-53, the third scored it 60-47), scoring a knockdown the 6th round with a series of jabs followed by a right hand to the chin of Rahman who survived before referee Tony Weeks ended the fight in the seventh round. According to

CompuBox CompuBox is a computerized punch-tracking system widely used in professional boxing to provide statistical analysis of matches. Established in 1985, it has become an integral tool for broadcasters and analysts, offering viewers quantitative data o ...

Klitschko landed 178 punches with 48% accuracy, against Rahman's 30 punches with 14% accuracy.

Aftermath

After his victory, Klitschko agreed to face former unified cruiserweight champion

David Haye David Deron Haye (born 13 October 1980) is a British former professional boxer who competed between 2002 and 2018. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, and was the first British boxer to reach the final of the World Amat ...

in Germany in June 2009, however, Haye pulled out and was replaced by the WBA "Champion In recess"

Ruslan Chagaev Ruslan Shamilevich Chagaev (; ; ); born 19 October 1978) is an Uzbekistani former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2016. He held the World Boxing Association (WBA) heavyweight title twice ( Regular version in his second reign) and w ...

. Rahman would spend 15 months out of the ring after this fight before returning to knockout his next five opponents before losing in two rounds to Povetkin. He would retire after a decision loss to the unknown

Anthony Nansen Anthony "Antz" Nansen (born 12 March 1983) is a New Zealand professional boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial artist. Career Nansen practiced Kung Fu as a child and grew up playing rugby league. He began training in kickboxing at the age of 21. He ...

in June 2014.

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:

Broadcasting

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Klitschko, Rahman 2008 in boxing 2008 in German sport December 2008 sports events in Germany Boxing matches in Germany Rahman Klitschko Boxing matches refereed by Tony Weeks Boxing on HBO International Boxing Federation heavyweight championship matches World Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches International Boxing Organization heavyweight championship matches Sports competitions in Mannheim 21st century in Mannheim 2000s in Baden-Württemberg