[1] Rahman first became known on the world stage in 2001 when he scored an upset knockout victory against Lennox Lewis to win the unified heavyweight championship.

Rahman tried to compensate on his lack of amateur background by being busy in the pros, sometimes fighting within five days from the previous bout.

He took a step up in class in March 1996 with a 10-round decision win over veteran Ross Puritty and seven months later, he repeated the feat against former world champion Trevor Berbick.

At the beginning of the next round Tua hit him with several heavy shots and the referee jumped in when Rahman was bobbing and weaving.

[4] Because of the controversial nature of the loss, Rahman's ranking did not suffer, but in November 1999, he was knocked out by Oleg Maskaev in the eighth round of a fight he looked to be winning.

[5] Rahman later said that he had seen Maskaev earlier in his career get knocked out in the first round by former champion Oliver McCall and he assumed he was brought in as an easy win.

[6] Finally, on April 22, 2001, Rahman earned a shot at Lennox Lewis the WBC, IBO and IBF heavyweight champion with a win over Frankie Swindell.

Rahman and his new promoter, Don King, made plans to defend the titles against David Izon, rather than giving Lewis his rematch.

The fight was an elimination bout for the IBF, WBA, and WBC, with the winner being the number-one contender in more than one world-title organization.

Soon after this second postponement, Vitali's doctors reportedly discovered back injuries that they said demanded minor-yet-immediate corrective surgery.

[22] After this third rescheduling, Rahman, fought for a WBC "Interim" heavyweight championship and defeated Monte Barrett on August 13, 2005, via unanimous decision.

On November 7, it was announced that Klitschko had suffered severe right knee injuries during training; the WBC said it would strip him of the championship if he was unable to box within 60–90 days of a soon-to-be-announced base date.

[24] On December 9, 2005, a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge ended Rahman's contract with Don King and he signed instead with Top Rank Boxing.

[25] On March 18, 2006, Rahman fought James Toney to a draw, in a 12-round fight in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and he retained the WBC heavyweight title.

[28] On August 12, 2006, Rahman lost the WBC heavyweight championship to rival Oleg Maskaev by 12th Round TKO in a mandatory defense of his title.

Afterwards he said he should have followed his trainer's game plan by staying cautious in the last round to win on points, instead of rushing Maskaev, mistakenly thinking him too tired to fight back.

[30] After a 10-month layoff, Rahman resumed his career with a ten-round unanimous decision over Taurus Sykes June 14, 2007, at The Main Street Armory in Rochester, New York.

[31][32] Rahman then fought three times in three months defeating Dicky Ryan by second-round TKO on September 7, 2007.

[34][35][36] Rahman lost to Wladimir Klitschko by TKO in the 7th round on December 13, 2008, for his WBO, IBO & IBF titles.

[41] Fifteen months after the seventh round loss to Wladimir Klitschko in December 2008, Rahman made a comeback against 43-year-old journeyman Clinton Boldridge winning the fight via TKO 1.

[45] In yet another attempt to re-enter the heavyweight scene Rahman signed up for the super 8 tournament, an elimination-style event staged in Auckland, New Zealand.

[46] But despite holding the tag as tournament favorite the ageing Rahman was outpointed by little-known club fighter Anthony Nansen in the quarter-final on June 4, 2014.

[49] He nearly died in a car accident (which left him with permanent scarring on his cheek and ear) and once survived a shooting where five bullets entered his body.