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For the first time in ring history, two Olympic super-heavyweight gold medallists collide for the world heavyweight championship tomorrow evening when Wladimir Klitschko defends his WBA Super, WBO, IBF and IBO belts against WBA ‘regular’ champion Alex Povetkin at Moscow’s Olympic Stadium. President Putin will be ringside.
With promoter Vlad Khryunov punting a colossal $23million winning purse bid to deliver Povetkin home field, the unbeaten Russian poses the biggest threat to Klitschko hegemony for years.
Watch all the action live and exclusive in the UK on BoxNation, The Channel of Champions, from 8pm on Saturday evening (Sky Ch.437/Virgin Ch.546). Join at www.boxnation.com
One man who senses we could be in for a spot of giant killing is ‘Terrible’ Tim Witherspoon, himself a former two time world heavyweight champion. The 55 year old Philadelphia native now spends long periods resident in the UK so boxing writer Glynn Evans tracked him down to assess Saturday’s showdown.
“This should certainly be the most competitive and intriguing heavyweight match-up that we’ve had for a good few years.
Both Klitschko brothers always turn up for business in great shape. I’ll give them that. Wladimir’s got skills to a certain level but he’s not got great defence. He can’t block punches and his chin certainly isn’t the best. Even when lesser fighters press upon him, he isn’t the most assured, doesn’t really know how to react. The older brother (Vitali) definitely has a lot more heart.
Technically, I don’t see that Wladimir can do a lot of stuff that’s really special. There’s just not been a lot of competition around at present that’s capable of stretching him. Wladimir’s been blessed with really good size and he gets himself into great condition.
Business wise, the Klitschkos are phenomenal. They’re very, very thorough professionals. Like his brother, Wlad surrounds himself with a great back-up team of trainers, scientists and top quality sparring partners. He puts together a great program and great training camps. His superior fitness allows him to get away with stuff, technical deficiencies, that might have been exploited in my era.
The Klitschkos speak well and, though they’re not always the most exciting, they’re great advocates for our sport. They could do a lot more to sizzle against inferior opposition, to make more of an impact for themselves. But clearly they know how to win and have proved it over a very long time. You have to really respect both the brothers for that.
A big problem with today’s crop of heavyweights is that they’ve no longer got the great old time coaches to teach them all the slick stuff; the moves and grooves. There’s no longer the great teachers around capable of bringing talented young athletes to the top. I loved Emanuel Steward, who trained Wladimir for many years before he passed away recently, but Manny was a great offensive coach not a defensive specialist.
When I was coming through, I
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With promoter Vlad Khryunov punting a colossal $23million winning purse bid to deliver Povetkin home field, the unbeaten Russian poses the biggest threat to Klitschko hegemony for years.
Watch all the action live and exclusive in the UK on BoxNation, The Channel of Champions, from 8pm on Saturday evening (Sky Ch.437/Virgin Ch.546). Join at www.boxnation.com
One man who senses we could be in for a spot of giant killing is ‘Terrible’ Tim Witherspoon, himself a former two time world heavyweight champion. The 55 year old Philadelphia native now spends long periods resident in the UK so boxing writer Glynn Evans tracked him down to assess Saturday’s showdown.
“This should certainly be the most competitive and intriguing heavyweight match-up that we’ve had for a good few years.
Both Klitschko brothers always turn up for business in great shape. I’ll give them that. Wladimir’s got skills to a certain level but he’s not got great defence. He can’t block punches and his chin certainly isn’t the best. Even when lesser fighters press upon him, he isn’t the most assured, doesn’t really know how to react. The older brother (Vitali) definitely has a lot more heart.
Technically, I don’t see that Wladimir can do a lot of stuff that’s really special. There’s just not been a lot of competition around at present that’s capable of stretching him. Wladimir’s been blessed with really good size and he gets himself into great condition.
Business wise, the Klitschkos are phenomenal. They’re very, very thorough professionals. Like his brother, Wlad surrounds himself with a great back-up team of trainers, scientists and top quality sparring partners. He puts together a great program and great training camps. His superior fitness allows him to get away with stuff, technical deficiencies, that might have been exploited in my era.
The Klitschkos speak well and, though they’re not always the most exciting, they’re great advocates for our sport. They could do a lot more to sizzle against inferior opposition, to make more of an impact for themselves. But clearly they know how to win and have proved it over a very long time. You have to really respect both the brothers for that.
A big problem with today’s crop of heavyweights is that they’ve no longer got the great old time coaches to teach them all the slick stuff; the moves and grooves. There’s no longer the great teachers around capable of bringing talented young athletes to the top. I loved Emanuel Steward, who trained Wladimir for many years before he passed away recently, but Manny was a great offensive coach not a defensive specialist.
When I was coming through, I
[Click Here To Read More]
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