Lennox Lewis

Lewis suffered the second defeat of his professional career when he had a title defense fight against Hasam Rahman in South Africa in April 2001. Rahman was a 20-1 underdog in his second title fight ever. Lewis essentially

Lennox Lewis, right

did not take the fight seriously enough. Lewis did not train that hard and came to the bout at his highest fighting weight ever. Rahman knocked out Lewis in the fifth round. This was a bad loss for Lewis, and negatively affected his reputation.

The rematch between Rahman and Lewis came seven months later, and Lewis had something to prove. He used his devastating right after a combination in the fourth round to knockout Rahman. Though he won, even his trainer Steward believed Lewis did not live up to his potential in this fight. Hoffer wrote in Sports Illustrated, "He is not a man who seems inclined to realize his immense potential, but past disappointments—his often overly cautious style in victories has been ever more damning than his knockout defeats—will dim in the reflection of this powerful win."