By Mike Coppinger
Former heavyweight contender Jameel McCine, ringside to call Tomasz Adamek’s lopsided win over Kevin McBride last Saturday in Newark, knows a thing or two about Wladimir Klitschko.
McCline (39-10-3), now 40, retired following his knockout loss to Chris Arreola on HBO in late 2009, but fought a who’s who of heavyweights during his career. In July of ’02, the younger Klitschko brother defeated “Big Time” when the latter’s corner stopped the bout following the 10th round.
With perhaps the biggest bout of Klitschko’s career looming, against former undisputed cruiserweight champion David Haye, McCline shared his thoughts on the bout, slated to take place on either June 25 or July 2.
“Haye has to make Wladimir work,” said McCline. “A lot of guys don’t make Wladimir work because he’s so great at doing what he wants to do, when he wants to do it and how he wants to do it in that ring. But with Haye’s speed and power, he can make Klitschko follow him around the ring a little bit, make him expend himself a little bit."
“If you watch a lot of Klitschko’s latest fights, he does not expend much energy at all. What Haye needs to do is find a way to use his speed, power and confidence to make this man use some of his energy and see what happens in [the late rounds]."
McCline, who resides in West Palm Beach, Fla., witnessed Haye training at the legendary 5th Street Gym in Miami and says the Brit is already in tip top shape. He prognosticates the Brit to pull off the victory and claim the heavyweight championship this summer.
Mike Coppinger is a regular contributor to Ring Magazine in addition to freelancing for USA TODAY. He is a member of the BWAA, the Ring Ratings Advisory Panel and the Yahoo! Sports Boxing Panel. Write to him at mikecoppinger@gmail.com . Follow him on Twitter: @MikeCoppinger.
