Klitschko-Peter II/Gamboa-Salido: The Post Report Card

By Cliff Rold

Opinions varied earlier this year when HBO head Ross Greenburg was quoted to the effect that HBO was out of the Klitschko, and Heavyweight, business short of a couple key matches.  Given the rich history of Heavyweight, and its status as the division that produces the literal best fighter in the world, there was a purist impulse to see the viewpoint as unfair despite ratings evidence to suggest what Saturday made obvious.

Boxing, like all televised sports, is there as a form of entertainment.  Had HBO chosen to televise Saturday’s big Heavyweight title fight (and nearly 40,000 tickets sold made it a big fight along with the title on the line), they might not have televised the show they did.  HBO’s main event, a Featherweight unification between Yuriorkis Gamboa-Orlando Salido, wasn’t a bad fight.  It also wasn’t memorable.  The Lightweight bout beneath it?

Brandon Rios-Anthony Peterson?

Take any thirty seconds of action there and one could find more entertainment value than the Heavyweight produced through most of ten rounds.  There are a couple of good fights to be made at Heavyweight, a couple of fights which could be entertaining.  Until they are made, bouts like Rios-Peterson (won by Rios on a disqualification) prove HBO is on the right course for its audience.

Here’s a simple question: if one was trying to convert someone curious into a fight fan, would they have better luck showing them Wladimir Klitschko-Sam Peter or Rios-Peterson?     

That bit of analysis isn’t a knock on Klitschko as will be noted as we go to the report card.

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Klitschko B+; Peter B-/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Klitschko A; Peter B+/Post: A; B
Pre-Fight: Defense – Klitschko B+; Peter B-/Post: B+; C
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Klitschko B+; Peter C+/Post: B+; C

It’s hard to knock Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO) for winning every round and closing with a nasty assault in the tenth.  Sure, one can wish for Klitschko to go destroyer earlier in fights, to put together the sort of combinations he’s capable of more consistently, but it’s just not in his makeup anymore.  He’s there to win. 

What killed the entertainment possibilities for Klitschko was an opponent who wasn’t past about two rounds.  When Klitschko has faced fighters who try to win, the fights have been better.  Tony Thompson fought hard all night; so did Calvin Brock.  Those were easily watchable fights.  Peter (34-4, 27 KO) tried some jabs early, winged a few hooks, and when the leather started landing he fell into clinch after clinch.  It was hard to see where he was trying to win. 

The early holding was largely initiated by the champion; as the rounds wore on, it was Peter playing for survival as punishment mounted.  The fight was predictable.  Most Klitschko fights (Wladimir or Vitali) are right now.  They’re simply that much better than the men they’re fighting.

The unification contest at Featherweight was also largely predictable but fans got a look at the growing process of a sizable talent in his first real step up.

Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Gamboa A; Salido B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Power – Gamboa A; Salido B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Gamboa B; Salido B-/Post: B; B
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Gamboa B; Salido B/Post: Same

There was a chance heading into the contest that the speed and accompanying power of now WBA and IBF titlist Yuriorkis Gamboa (19-0, 15 KO) could allow him to crack the chin of a professional now a decade without a stoppage loss.  The danger lied in letting Orlando Salido (34-11-2, 22 KO) stick around.  If the veteran put some good work together in the middle of the fight, would Gamboa be able to surge forward?

Gamboa stunned Salido a few times early but fought respectfully and with an eye on not getting wild.  It gave Salido some chances, and the veteran dropped Gamboa with a nice blind counter right in the eighth.  Gamboa, not really hurt, shook it off and managed a pair of knockdowns in the final round.  Flirting with disqualification by striking the downed Salido was a bad move and spoke to how long a night it had been.

Gamboa won comfortably in the scoring but not so comfortably in the ring.  It was exhibit A for something which should have been taken for granted: no matter how good the athlete, how strong the amateur background, the first real contender a pro faces is still their first.  Gamboa still holds his hands far too low far too often, but he also showed he can be steady when the task calls for it.

He’s still a long way from being the world’s best Featherweight but twelve rounds with Salido got him closer than a lesser foe would have.

Looking Ahead

The talk for Gamboa remains a showdown with fellow undefeated titlist Juan Manuel Lopez (29-0, 26 KO) but a better call for now might be another veteran and a resolution of the nonsense dual WBA-belt holding scenario currently existing.  Chris John (43-0-2, 22 KO) remains the most proven force at 126 lbs. but has shown some age and vulnerabilities of late.  He’s not a big hitter and would be an excellent test for Gamboa (not to mention it’s absurd for anyone to claim the WBA belt while John sits on eleven consecutive defenses).

Klitschko’s future path is simpler: he needs a challenger who will do everything they can to win.  That they probably will not is no matter; they’ll try and that will make the rounds before any conclusion much less the exercise in survival by tedium Peter presented Saturday. 

There are two who fit the bill, both former Cruiserweight champs, but neither appears to want that fight right now.  Tomasz Adamek (42-1, 27 KO) is going to sell some more tickets in New Jersey first, but his camp has hinted they may make a run at a belt next year.  David Haye (24-1, 22 KO), who has a WBA belt, talks a big game and would make for a huge event.  It’s the fight HBO would still love to televise.  It’s also stuck in a phase where it appears Haye would rather stack some chips than go for broke right now.  After a previous cancellation against Wladimir in 2009, Haye progressively was quieter about the challenge.  He’s talking contracts and money after a lengthy silence on the issue but it all adds up to looking like he’s not as sure as his rhetoric.

Time will tell if that’s really the case or it’s more of the posturing merry-go-round that happens most of the time on the way to big fights.  In the ring, Haye’s history says he’s going to let some heavy, fast hands go.  A vulnerable chin will be at risk when he does so, but Wladimir isn’t Jake LaMotta in that department either.  It’s not just a promising fight.

It’s promising entertainment.  

Report Card Picks 2010: 23-11

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com