LAS VEGAS -- Anybody know a good English, Jamaican or Canadian beer I can wash down with this crow? I was wrong about Lennox Lewis, the heavyweight champ who has never looked better in the ring than he did picking apart Hasim Rahman for three rounds Saturday night before completely smashing the Rock's jaw into little pieces in the fourth.

I thought he was old. I was wrong. Lewis moved around the ring like a man in his early 20s. I thought Rahman got into his head. Wrong again. He only helped motivate Lewis, who I thought had lost his hunger. Wrong a third time. Lewis exhibited a burning desire to prove that the punch Rahman landed seven months ago was not going to land again.

"I've changed his name to 'Has-Been' Rahman -- the Buster Douglas of the 21st Century," Lewis said at the post-fight news conference. "I told you the punch was a lucky punch in South Africa."

What was different between Saturday night and that surreal night in Brakpan, South Africa on April 22? Both men were in great shape this time. Both men matched up well on the tale of the tape. It was focus: Lewis didn't have it in April; Rahman didn't have it Saturday night.

"He even had the audacity to come to my change room before the fight," Lewis said in reference to when Rahman, who was without his corner (they were working William Joppy's fight against Howard Eastman) when Lewis' hands were being wrapped, tried to drop by to watch himself. "I thought, 'this guy is joking'. I actually laughed, but I realized he was not as focused as I was."

Actually, Rahman was not that bad in the first round, which I thought was pretty even. He jabbed with Lewis for the first half of the round, which started tentatively, both fighters showing each other respect. Rahman backed Lewis up by sticking a hard jab to the body. But once Lewis landed a hard jab followed by a stiff right in the middle of the round (which probably opened the cut over Rahman's left eye) the soon-to-ex champ seemed unsure of himself in the ring, even though he did land a nice one-two combo near the end of the round.

That was it for the Rock. Lewis got into his grove in the second round landing a hook and right hand to Rahman's body, and never letting his mouthy foe get back into the fight. Rahman stopped trying to jab with Lewis, opting to simply crouch low and stick his left straight out in a lame attempt to hold his suddenly aggressive challenger at bay. In the middle of the round, Rahman landed a jab-right hand with almost no juice on it. After enduring weeks of trash-talk that many (myself included) believed was getting to Lewis, he was now in Rahman's head.

"He did get under my skin a little," Lewis said about Rahman's words during the pre-fight press tour. "But I kept it all reserved. I thought to myself, 'he's gonna have to defend it all in the ring.' "

Rahman couldn't do it, and it became apparent to all witnessing the fight in the third round when Lewis began to double up his jab and land hard one-two combinations that sent Rock ducking, running and looking for cover. A hard hook-right combination hurt Rahman near the end of the round. Lewis, bouncing on his toes and in complete command of the fight, knew he had the fight won.

Trainer Emanuel Steward, who also won a degree of redemption with Saturday night's victory (after a disastrous April in which two of his highest profile pro fighters -- Lewis and Naseem Hamed -- lost), said he knew Lewis had the fight won the Friday night before the bout took place.

"Lennox called me to his room (Friday) night," Steward said after the fight. "He told me to sit down and he put in a tape of his fight with Rahman. He says to me: 'This man does not have any class compared to what I have'. He said, 'Emanuel, this is gonna be an easy fight. I'm gonna have fun.

"He told me to go ahead and have a good time, and he went and played ping-pong. From that moment on I knew what was going to happen.

"When I saw him out there dancing around, I said, 'Look at my baby out there!' He was jabbing and giving him angles to where Rahman could never get set to throw the right hand. I told Lennox after the third round to take it to him. The man cannot counter-punch. He can only punch going forward.

"In the fourth round, Lennox landed one of the most beautifully executed combinations in the history of boxing. He threw a left hook that was not intended to land, but just maneuver Rahman's body into a position where he could land a right hand -- and bingo!"

And KO was his name-o.

Rahman bit the dust, struggling to get up while still in La La Land in much the same manner Lewis did in South Africa. The ripping hook Lewis caught Rahman with to set up the killer right was probably the punch that produced a nasty gash on the inside of the former champ's cheek. That cut, which bled pretty badly from his mouth after he finally got up off the canvas, and the one over his eye prompted ringside physician Dr. Margaret Goodman to request that Rahman be taken to nearby Valley Hospital to get stitched up and go through a routine CT scan.

So Rock was not at the post-fight presser, and his future is now uncertain. He did not sign a deal with either HBO or Showtime after winning the titles from Lewis. Will we see him again? Why not? He's usually in good scraps. He'll be back. Rock's not a quitter, and he's no stranger to coming back from a devastating knockout having done so twice before (after his David Tua and Oleg Maskaev losses). And at 29, there's still time.

But one thing we can be sure of -- he won't be getting another chance at Lewis, who laughed in the face of Rahman's co-manager Steve Nelson when he suggested a third match. Gary Shaw, Lewis' U.S. promoter, wants to see Lewis in with Mike Tyson, like every other red-blooded boxing fan in the world. What else is left for Lewis?

Crocodile, Tyson's uh ... motivator, was at the post-fight presser and basically in his loud and obnoxious way (why do they let him in the media center?) asked that question.

"Funny thing, though," he replied. "After his last fight where he boxed that blimp, he said he needs two more fights. When he said that, I thought to myself, 'Will this fight ever come about?' There's other guys out there who deserve a chance, as well."