By Mark Vester
Recently, trainer and ESPN personality Teddy Atlas took a look at the March 21 bout between WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and mandatory contender Juan Carlos Gomez. The fight takes place at Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle in Stuttgart, Germany and ESPN will televise the fight. Atlas doesn't see the fight, based on styles, playing out to be a heavyweight classic.
"Look, I don't think it's gonna be the Thrilla in Manila. I don't think you have too many Thrillas in Manilas anymore. You don't have those kinds of athletes, those kinds of fighters, those kinds of people anymore. I don't think you have that anymore. You have spoiled athletes in most of the sports and boxing is no different. Boxers get paid a lot of money and to a certain extent they treat it like it's a business and they get away with things that the fighters of the past wouldn't have gotten away with," Atlas told writer Michael David Smith.
Gomez is a tricky boxer and regarded as one the best fighters to step foot in the cruiserweight division. Atlas believes that Klitschko's physical advantages will overcome the boxing style of Gomez.
"Klitschko's been away for a long time and he's back now. He's tall, he's long, he has the kind of style where he controls range, he controls distance. He's not a go get you guy, he's not a seek and destroy guy. He tries to control his opponent with his long arms, and he's fighting a southpaw, so that brings an interesting dimension into it. He's fighting a guy in Gomez who's also up there in age, not a spring chicken. Klitschko is 37 and Gomez is 35. I think there's going to be a tactical element to it, but I think the physical dimensions of Klitschko -- size, height reach -- at the end of the day I think that's what will lead the way for them," Atlas said.
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