By Don Caputo
 
For six months, Hasim Rahman poked, teased, and mocked the man who he sensationally knocked out in five rounds to call himself the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
 
His provocative jibes rained down on Lennox Lewis with the relentlessness of a desert storm. The idea was to get under the skin of his opponent and perhaps tilt their November 17 rematch in his favor by gaining a psychological edge. That or the shocking suddenness of his rise to the top of the heavyweight tree swelled his ego a tad and brought out his more classless side. Maybe it was a bit of both.
 
Verbally outgunned by the quick-witted Rahman, the humbled former champion resisted much of the bate by choosing to retreat into a shell of silence where his thoughts were of one thing and one thing only – taking back his crown.
 
Lewis’ silence was thought to be curious. It was an action open to interpretation and had fans and scribes alike scratching their heads – was he just preparing to do his talking in the ring, or had his American conqueror gotten to him? Many believed the latter. Rahman certainly did, as each week he gleefully stepped up his torrent of abuse to new and more stinging levels.
 
Still Lewis would not answer him back, still he remained silent.
 
The mental battle waged by Rahman looked all but won at the pre-fight weigh-in when, in order to escape the insults aimed at him, the Briton made a premature and swift exit from the building. What looked like an act of defeat was actually Lewis’ final and most defiant refusal to be caught up in the hoopla. His resolve proved impenetrable; he simply would not allow Rahman’s antics to drag him out of his zone of focus.
 
Rahman and his mouth were successful in getting inside Lennox Lewis’ head, but unfortunately for the soon to be ex-champion his behavior backfired on fight night in the form of a picture perfect Lewis right hook which left him seeing stars on the canvas. Revenge was sweet.
 
Rahman, who made it his mission to be as disrespectful to Lewis in the build-up to the rematch as can humanly be possible. Apparently, Rahman believed that all he needed to do was show up and catch Lewis with another bomb to knock him out again. How fitting was it was when Rahman himself was nailed and counted out by a sledgehammer blow in the fourth round? Call it karma. Rahman paid the price for his cockiness and superior attitude, just as Lewis had in April of that year when he took Rahman far too lightly and found himself on the floor looking up.
 
A professional for over a decade, never had Lewis been so up for a fight. The flames of revenge raged inside of him as he entered the ring, and when the bell rung he was ready to let them consume and destroy Rahman.
 
"I got to give him respect he prepared well," Rahman said shortly after regaining his senses. "He was in shape. He threw a nice hard right hand; I didn't see the punch coming. He threw it off the hook. He blinded me with the hook and threw the right hand. It was a good punch. I give him the credit. He got the title, he's the champ.”
 
"When we were in South Africa, I said the belts were on loan," Lewis patiently explained after the victory. “So, he has had his fifteen minutes of glory and now they come back home to me.”
 
The right hand of Lewis put closure on the rivalry, a rubber match was not necessary.