Rahman Becomes Promotional Free Agent!

This is a major story! The Baltimore Sun is reporting that a judge in Las Vegas has ruled that newly crowned WBC Heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman must pursue the best possible way to pay off the more than 20 creditors that he owes.

The Sun's Lem Satterfield writes that this ruling effectively makes Rahman a free agent because Judge Bruce Markell of the District Court of Nevada ruled that Rahman's manager, Steve Nelson had an obligation to seek out favorable options for Rahman from whichever promoter provides the best deal for his services.

Don King offered a minimum guaranteed purse of $500,000 should the 33-year-old Rahman sign with him. Bob Arum offered a guaranteed purse of $1.25 million. Satterfield also writes that this ruling could negate a contract with Don King that was to last until July 2010.

Rahman's debts total nearly $5 million. The Baltimore native is to officially receive his belt in late December. The WBC recently ruled that James Toney is the official number one challenger to Rahman's title, with the winner of a Rahman-Toney bout to immediately face the number two contender Oleg Maskaev.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. If Rahman decides not to go with King, it may ruin the plans for a heavyweight tourney.