Zahir Raheem and the art of staying alive

ZAHIR “Z-MAN” RAHEEM was sporting a pink sports activities jacket and a smile as he moved swiftly throughout the stage to simply accept his Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame plaque. Many in attendance had not seen him since he retired in 2014. Gone was the spindly boxer of years previous, changed by a match man of 45 who has moved on geographically however has not forgotten his roots.

There was all the time one thing ethereal about Raheem, a thin boxer with a pencil-thin moustache. Now you see him, now you don’t, which was mirrored in his slippery defensive model. As a toddler he resembled Dickens’ Artful Dodger, working the streets in search of sustenance, but it surely hadn’t all the time been that method.

“I lived next to a park and my dad would take me down there,” stated Raheem. “We would stroll the canine. I loved life and all the time had fun. Down the avenue at Ninth and Tioga was a horse secure. I’d go down there, take care of them and experience them.

“It was great, but one day my dad didn’t come home for almost three days. My mother didn’t understand it. One day he came home and then they both disappeared. They came back and they were on crack cocaine. After that we lost everything.”

For a spell the 10-year-old Zahir turned the sole supplier for his 5 brothers and sisters, in addition to himself. He vividly recalled the second he realised how essential issues had turn into.

“I seemed in the fridge and the solely factor in there was baking soda. Got so hungry I went to see if I might make some cash to purchase meals. I went to a grocery retailer and requested a woman if I might carry her groceries for her. She gave me some meals and some cash, and then stated she would name the cops and get me some assist. I ran. Zoom!

“I went to another store and bought some groceries and went home to my brothers and sisters. I thought wow! I’ve got to do that again. I did it for a long time, until I was about 12 or 13, and then we moved to a shelter.”

Just down the avenue from the shelter was the Athletic Rec Center that housed North Philly’s ABC Boxing Gym, the place coach and mentor Fred Jenkins presided over a flock of younger males looking for their method.

“When my life turned upside down, Fred was the person I ran to. He was in the gym every day. I would train all day. Even if I just sat there and watched, I wanted to be at the gym. I didn’t want to be home. Growing up at the Rec Center I saw Fred save so many lives. He had so much respect in the neighborhood it was unbelievable.”

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Raheem’s lengthy and busy newbie profession climaxed in 1996 when he fought his technique to a berth on the United States’ Olympic boxing group. He was accompanied by Philly’s David Reid one other Rec Center fighter. Reid took light-middleweight (super-welterweight) gold with a come from behind knockout, however bantamweight Raheem was stopped in the first spherical of his second bout.

“It was the weight, man,” stated Zahir. “I was killing myself trying to make weight. It was 90 degrees in Atlanta and I had a sweatshirt on. I wasn’t eating nothing. It was horrible.”

The Rec Center put up a big poster alongside one wall, welcoming dwelling the gymnasium’s Olympic heroes. There’s {a photograph} of Raheem and Reid standing in entrance of it, fingers raised in the acquainted number-one signal. The expressions on their faces, nevertheless, couldn’t have been extra dissimilar. David was smiling the method anyone would who was closing in on a multi million-dollar deal. Zahir seemed like man whose canine had simply died.

His disappointment was comprehensible and he admitted he envied all the media consideration Reid was receiving. Even so, there didn’t appear to be any animosity between the very long time stablemates. It was not private, it was enterprise, and in the boxing trade a one-punch knockout to win an Olympic gold medal is price significantly greater than getting stopped in the second bout of the Atlanta Games.

The distinction was apparent from the begin. Reid signed with America Presents and turned professional on HBO. Raheem’s debut was off TV, a fourth-round stoppage of Cliff Watford at Ballys in Atlantic City, November 16, 1996.

By then Raheem had a three-year contract with Top Rank. Bob Arum’s matchmakers stored Zahir busy combating on undercards in numerous casinos: Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Connecticut, Trump Taj Mahal and Ballys in Atlantic City, with facet journeys to Biloxi, Grand Rapids and Reno. The opposition, nevertheless, by no means appeared to rise above fair-to-middling.

For a lot of his profession Raheem was trapped in a sweaty purgatory of meaningless fights, an unproven commodity ready for an opportunity to show him self at the high stage. He escaped briefly and though he acquitted himself effectively in two of his main fights, his efficiency in the third was nearly unwatchable.

There’s little question a big half of Raheem’s drawback was his defensive model. He wasn’t a runner [i]per se[i], however knew tips on how to management distance, make his rivals miss, duck, spin away and clinch. His jab was switchblade fast and didn’t even should land to throw off his opponent’s timing. Those that did join chipped away at the different man’s confidence, establishing straight rights and counter hooks that got here in spurts.

Maybe if these offensive surges had come extra steadily Raheem would have been a much bigger attraction, however the survival abilities demonstrated when he was the sole assist of his siblings are absolutely linked to his boxing model. For Zahir it was all the time about survival. He discovered tips on how to keep alive as a abandoned little one and took those self same instincts into the ring with him. It’s who he’s.

Finally, after nearly eight years on the highway, Raheem received his first break, a match with unbeaten Rocky Juarez on HBO, July 17, 2004. The Main Events promotion, held at the Reliant Center in Juarez’s hometown of Houston, was an IBF featherweight eliminator. Fighting the home fighter in his hometown was dangerous sufficient, however when the Texas boxing fee is concerned the inexplicable is to be anticipated.

“That was the sort of fight I wanted,” Raheem stated. “I told my promoter, Tony Holden, I would take the fight but make them change the judges. He said, ‘Well, I don’t think we can do that.’ I also told him I couldn’t make featherweight. I was 126 pounds when I was 15!”

Zahir had not fought as featherweight since March 2002, and was settling in properly at light-weight when the Juarez battle offered itself. He had two decisions, make 126 kilos or go dwelling. Somehow he made it, however his troubles had been removed from over.

“What I went through in that fight was despicable,” stated Raheem.

After a precarious begin, Raheem began to return on. He boxed well, landed cleanly and was clearly in the battle when referee Robert Gonzalez penalised the Philadelphian for holding behind the head in the fourth spherical. Gonzalez, who by no means issued a warning, did the identical in the sixth and tenth rounds.

“That referee made it seem like Raheem was fighting two people,” stated HBO’s Larry Merchant.

When Juarez was given a unanimous resolution, Hall of Fame referee Mills Lane was so offended he wrote a letter to Richard Cole, head of the Texas boxing fee, which learn:

[I have reviewed the tape of the fight between Juarez and Raheem. From the first round through the end of the fight, Robert Gonzales interfered with Raheem’s legitimate fight tactics and strategy. Mr. Gonzalez’s conduct as a referee was despicable. He was blatant in his ongoing attempt to interfere with the flow of the fight. From my view, points should not have been deducted from Raheem. Juarez, on many occasions, held on to Raheem’s glove, and as a result, his head would come into direct contact with the face of Raheem. Raheem’s response to control the head of Juarez was a natural and legitimate technique. Ali often used this technique. Juarez punched on the break several times and was never warned.

In short this was the worst performance by any referee that I have witnessed. Raheem should not be penalized for suffering a loss because of a referee’s conduct. In closing, I would urge the commissioners office to rule this fight a “no contest.”]

The outrage was warranted, however as traditional nothing modified. Officially Juarez will all the time be the winner.

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Following a win over Jose Quintana in February 2005, Raheem signed to battle Erik Morales on September 10 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. This was it, a make or break battle.

“I lived in a house in Las Vegas away from the casinos,” Raheem stated. “I didn’t do nothing but fast, train and pray. I trained for almost three months. I made sacrifices I’d never made before in my life. When I read that I was just a journeyman, I made up my mind to win. They weren’t going to brainwash me. There was nothing anybody could do about it. I was going to win that fight.”

Morales was coming off an in depth, exhilarating battle with Manny Pacquiao on March 19, successful a unanimous resolution by triple scores of 115-113. Top Rank had already determined it might promote a rematch to maximise curiosity put Pacquiao and Morales on the identical card towards opponents they figured to beat.

Pacquiao held up his finish when referee Lew Moret stopped the battle after Manny knocked down Hector Velazquez twice in the sixth spherical. Raheem was nowhere close to as accommodating. He boxed superbly, befuddling Morales and punishing him with jabs and flashy counters. Morales by no means gave up however seemed decidedly unsteady as the battle drew to an in depth.

Raheem received a unanimous 12-round resolution by scores of 118-110, 116-112 and 115-113. It was the most interesting efficiency of his profession and chosen as The Ring journal’s Upset of the Year.

What ought to have been a joyous event rapidly changed into a downer. One minute Raheem was being carried round the ring sporting a crown, his proper hand raised in victory, the subsequent he was taking a look at the bitter puss of the man who managed his profession.

“Initially I was very excited,” stated Zahir, “but I could tell by the look on Bob Arum’s face that he was upset. I was thinking, [i]Damn! I won but they’re mad at me.[i] I didn’t understand it.”

Naturally, it was about cash. Despite Zahir’s victory, Pacquiao and Raheem wouldn’t be as large of an attraction as a Morales-Pacquiao rematch. Top Rank determined to disregard Morales’ loss to Raheem and made the second Pacquiao rematch.

Raheem solely shot at a title got here towards Acelino Freitas for the vacant WBO light-weight belt, April 29, 2006, at Foxwoods. It was an unpleasant mess of a boxing match. Raheem grabbed, clinched and threw Freitas to the canvas 3 times. Both boxers appeared reluctant to launch a sustained assault, and after 12 ugly rounds two of the three judges voted for Freitas.

A pair of wins and a no-contest later Zahir was in South Africa, the place Ali Funeka knocked him out in the fourth spherical on July 8, 2008. It was the lowest level of Raheem’s profession.

“I got knocked out before I got into the ring,” stated Raheem. “I was supposed to be there three weeks before the fight, but it was only eight days. I had jet lag. I was sleeping all the time. I just couldn’t adjust in time.”

The losses to Freitas and Funeka satisfied Raheem he wanted to step away from boxing, which he did for greater than two years. In want of cash he struck a take care of promoter Brian Halquist and launched a comeback April 22, 2010.

Raheem received six in a row, the final a 10-round unanimous resolution over Bayan Jargal to win the vacant NABO tremendous light-weight title on January 13, 2014. By the time he beat Jargal, going out with a win and minor belt was adequate for Zahir, who exited completely with a document of 35-3, 21 wins inside the distance.

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Zahir and his household at present reside Snellville, Georgia, a 35-minute drive east of Atlanta. He makes the journey two occasions most days, working at the gymnasium he co-owns along with his associate.

“Seven or eight years ago it was abandoned property that was boarded up,” Raheem stated. “We cleaned it out [and turned it into a gym]. There is a mix of clients. We have lots of white and blue-collar clients and quite a few amateurs. One of the amateurs is Chad “Candyman” Pitts. He’s 17 now and I’ve been coaching him since he was round eight years outdated.”

Zahir is aware of there had been circumstances past his management that hindered his profession, however eight years after his last battle he understands he was additionally culpable.

“A lot of issues in my career were my fault for not understanding the business,” stated Raheem. “Also my lack of discipline. I would party between fights. If I’d been consistent and not party at all, I would have been a much better fighter and have less weight problems.”

Raheem was born in Philadelphia and discovered to field in a single of metropolis’s legendary gyms. Sure he “took it on the road” apart from was one bout, however he’ll all the time be a Philadelphia fighter. His return to the metropolis for the PABHOF banquet was met with applause and multiple “who’s that?”

That was the “Z-Man,” the boy who used to hold round the gymnasium and by no means wished to go dwelling.