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Tuesday, November 13
What if...Rahman vs. Buster Douglas




With all due respect to 'The Cinderella Man', James Braddock, and 'Neon'

Leon Spinks, the underdog kings of the heavyweight division for this generation are undoubtedly current heavyweight king Hasim Rahman and James 'Buster' Douglas. Rahman, who defends his title against the man he won it from, Lennox Lewis, this Saturday, scored his upset fifth round KO in April of 2001. Eleven years earlier, Douglas shocked the world by stopping the seemingly unbeatable Mike Tyson in Tokyo. How would Rahman fare against

Douglas? That's what we're going to find out. Using the premier boxing

simulator, Title Fight 2001, MaxBoxing asks, What If Hasim Rahman fought

Buster Douglas?

We're scheduled for 12 rounds from Las Vegas, and your referee is Mills Lane.

ROUND ONE: The bout doesn't get off to a promising start as both meet in

center ring and clinch. The first punch is thrown by Douglas, a missed jab, 30 seconds in. Rahman responds with a crisp counter right that lands flush. Douglas spins away and tries a lazy lead right. Rahman steps in and whips an uppercut to the jaw of Douglas, sending him crashing to the canvas. Douglas staggers to his feet after a nine count from referee Mills Lane.

Douglas tries to fight back weakly, but 'The Rock's' counters are finding their mark. After a barrage of shots, Buster takes a knee with less than 30 seconds left in the round. He falls over while taking the count, and the fight is waved off at 2:50 of the first. Your winner, by first-round knockout - Hasim "The Rock" Rahman.

100 Bout Results -- Using Title Fight 2001, Rahman-Douglas was autorun 100 times to get a better statistical average of what would have taken place. After 100 bouts, Rahman won 83 percent of the matchups, losing 15 percent, with 2 percent ending as draws. 44 of Rahman's wins were by decision, and 39 were by KO or TKO, including 13 KO's in five rounds or less, and 4 first round stoppages.

So it looks like 'The Rock' would have had little problem in dispatching

Douglas in cyberspace, but more importantly, can Rahman break the underdog curse in real-life? Braddock, Spinks, and Douglas all lost their titles in their first defenses after scoring huge upsets. Will Rahman be the exception to the rule?