By Mark Vester

Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward, during his recent appearance on BoxingScene.com's audio show, KO Cafe , touched on Wladimir Klitschko's upcoming defense of the IBF/WBO heavyweight titles against Hasim Rahman on December 13 in Germany, and a possible showdown with David Haye for next summer.

To get to Haye, Klitschko must first get past Rahman, a former two-time WBC heavyweight champion and holder of a knockout win over Lennox Lewis. Steward believes that Rahman's most deadly took is his punch, but that's about it.

"Rahman's punch. He's a heavy-handed strong guy, not the fastest guy but he can punch. If Wladimir comes out and operates at full speed, I don't think anyone can make it out of two-rounds with him. He has a techincal way of fighting. I was surprised when he opened up on Ray Austin and knocked Austin out in the second round. He has a lot of control over his opponents with his balance and his height and his leverage and his left jab. Rahman can still punch," Steward said. 

"Rahman doesn't have a lot going for him, but he still has that memory of knocking out Lennox Lewis and I'm sure he's going to remind me at every press conference I bet. He did that with one punch and he's got the biggest hands of any man that I ever saw in my life. It's going to be a puncher against an all-around better techincal fighter."

After Rahman, Steward feels the right fight for Wladimir would come against Haye. The British star still has to get past durable heavyweight Monte Barrett on November 15 to keep his place in the Klitschko sweepstakes.

"The next big superfight we think for Wladimir will probably be against David Haye. I think it would be a good fight for Wladimir, next year with him. A fight with David Haye and Wladimir will be a good fight because they are both good punchers. I think Wladimir's physical size will be a big factor for anybody, except maybe (Nikolai) Valuev. Some guys are tall but crouch down and go from 6'4 to 5'10. The Klitschko boys, Wladimir and Vitali, are tall fighters who look taller when you fight them because they fight in a tall manner," Steward said.

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