By Cliff Rold
The next wave arrived.
Whether Tyson Fury holds on to the crown for a bit, or loses it right back to now former champion Wladimir Klitschko, the Klitschko era of dominance is over. He’s not getting any younger and the young guys are only getting better.
For those who have enjoyed Klitschko, if not for his fights than for his class and professionalism, Saturday was probably a little melancholy. For those who grew tired of a fighter whose clinching was so ingrained he treated Eddie Chambers like Eddie Shavers, it was a sigh of relief.
The changing of the guard was interesting enough that one could almost overlook one glaring flaw on Saturday: the fight was pretty terrible.
Let’s go the report card.
Grades
Pre-Fight: Speed – Klitschko B+; Fury B/Post: B; B
Pre-Fight: Power – Klitschko A+; Fury B/Post: Same
Pre-Fight: Defense – Klitschko B+; Fury B/Post: B; B+
Pre-Fight: Intangibles – Klitschko A; Fury B/Post: B; A
In twelve rounds of heavyweight championship action, punch stats indicated slightly more action than a Guillermo Rigondeaux tune-up. There were moments of drama late in the fight, and some big shots, but not much in the way of sustained action.
What we did have Saturday was a perfectly executed game plan that enhanced the advantages of the victor and exploited flaws in the defeated. Klitschko has been very good for a long time, able to control the pace of his fights and usually score the knockout. It’s his weapon of choice in controlling pace that has frustrated many a fight fan.
Klitschko’s jab is good. His clinch is better. It’s not always there, but nights like his whacking out of Kubrat Pulev have been exception to rule. It was the clinch as much as anything that got Klitschko beat against Fury.
That was true two ways.
The first was that Fury wouldn’t let him do it at will. Fury kept his range and was first off the jab most of the night. By keeping Klitschko outside, Fury couldn’t be held. When Klitschko did get close enough, Fury at least whacked the body with the free hand (and returned Klitschko’s foul of choice with rabbit punches that eventually cost him a point). Klitschko without the clinch was Klitschko without control.
The second way it cost Klitschko was that he couldn’t break his own habits when he needed to. Even late in the fight, he was still looking to hold, and not in the sense of throwing, holding, and stepping back to throwing again. One of Klitschko’s hardest to watch moves over the years has been his two-arm lunge hold. There is no offense being attempted at all. He is coming forward to hold you, period. He did it in the tenth and HBO commentator Roy Jones wondered aloud what the point was in a fight where he was so far behind.
Klitschko needed to go for it. To his credit, he did a little bit in the final round, but ultimately that wouldn’t have been who Klitschko was or is. It wasn’t what brought him to the dance and kept the music playing for an eleven-year win streak.
There will be a sequel. Klitschko can win it. So can Fury. It might even be a decent fight. What we find out there is if we’re watching the closing chapter of the Klitschko era or a dramatic epilogue. If Fury wins again, he doesn’t have to leave home. American Deontay Wilder might be stuck watching while Fury faces David Haye and Anthony Joshua for big money.
Either way, the next wave is here. Time keeps rolling by.
Report Card and Staff Picks 2015: 86-24 (Including staff picks for DeGale-Bute and Alvarez-Chilemba)
Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com
