On Sunday, when it was an early morning in Moscow, a historic event took place in the world of professional boxing. Boxer born in Kazakhstan Oleg Maskaev won by knockout over American Hasim Rahman in a title fight according to the World Boxing Council (WBC). Thanks to this success, now all four titles in the most prestigious heavyweight category, according to the main versions in the world professional boxing, belong to immigrants from the USSR.
The battle between the native of Kazakhstan Maskaev and the American Rakhman long before its start was called a landmark. The WBC world title was the last that the boxers of the Soviet school had not yet won. The belt of the World Boxing Association champion is owned by Russian Nikolai Valuev, the International Boxing Federation - Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko, the World Boxing Organization - Belarus Sergey Lyakhovich. And when you consider that all these are champions in the most prestigious, spectacular and American favorite heavyweight weight category, where Ali, Tyson, Holyfield and other superstars of the last years performed, the confidence that Maskaev and Rakhman, who was called the last frontier of America in the posters, the winner will be determined by sports grounds, there were very few.
But Maskaev’s side was a psychological advantage. In the first fight of these boxers in November 1999, Rahman flew out of the ring to the referee tables after being hit in the eighth round. Then the authoritative magazine “Ring” called this knockout “the blow of the year”. On the eve of the new match, Maskaev decided to remind his opponent of this, saying that he was asking the Nevada Athletic Commission, in whose territory the fight was to be held, to expand the soft zone around the ring so that his opponent would be more comfortable falling.
But already the first rounds of the battle showed that Rahman made the right conclusions from that defeat. The American from the very beginning took the initiative and, as they say, fought a battle. Somewhere in the sixth round, Oleg was already moving heavily in the ring, and all of his strikes rested on Rakhman's competent defense, who, in response, regularly scored points and went to victory. In the eleventh round, Maskaev unexpectedly woke up and carried out a number of successful attacks, but it was clear that this was not enough to win. But that turned out to be just the beginning. In the last twelfth and decisive round, Oleg successfully hit the opponent’s jaw several times, and the weakened one hung on the ropes. Another blow - and he will fly out of the ring, to the referee tables, where the referees were preparing for a completely different outcome of this fight. But the judge, apparently remembering that the battle still takes place in America, did not “finish off” the audience, stopping him. Maskaev for the first time in 37 years became the world boxing champion.
“Until the last minute I believed that I could win,” said his winner after the match. “During the fight, I got used to the opponent’s manner and for three rounds to the end I realized that only a victory in them would help me win.”
“I never thought that Oleg would be able to take the title here in Las Vegas,” Rahman lamented. - I believe that the reasons for the defeats of the American heavyweights are that they are spoiled. They’re earning too much money too quickly and are losing interest in the sports component of boxing. ”
Andrey IVANTSOV