A US court today decreed that WBC and IBF world heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman cannot make a defence of his titles in the next 18 months unless he fights deposed champion Lennox Lewis. Judge Miriam Cederbaum delivered the verdict after lawyers for both sides had completed their arguments in New York.
The dispute originated because Lewis' camp claimed to have a clause written into the contract for the first bout which stated that should Lewis lose he would be entitled to a rematch.
Lewis duly lost the fight in South Africa on April 22, after which Rahman signed a multi-million dollar contract with Don King and has already lined up his first defence in Beijing in August to fight Nigeria's David Izon.
In delivering her verdict, Cederbaum said that Lewis would be irreparably harmed if he were not entitled to a defence as the 35-year-old can only hope to fight at this level for another two years. Rahman's lawyer admitted that an appeal was unlikely.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
