By Alexey Sukachev
... "And still WBC heavyweight champion of the wo-o-orld". Vitali Klitschko (now 40-2, with 38 KOs) notched another methodical and utterly effective beatdown in the fourth defense of his WBC crown with a tenth round stoppage of brave and game but limited Polish opponent in Albert "Dragon" Sosnowski, who fell down to 45-3-1 with 27 KOs.
It was the usual Klitschko performance from the outset. His Polish rival, competing in front of a roaring crowd which had filled in the Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, definitely felt the pressure of pro-Polish audience and looked extra nervous in the opening rounds. He tried to establish his jab but to no effect as there were too many superfluous movements and jerkings on his behalf. Vitali was calm and cautious as usual not letting his hands go except of a single right to the body of the Pole. Round two was another fever-like stanza for Sosnowski while Vitali gave him a taste of his left hand, which was as low at his waist as usual.
Round three was probably the best for the challenger. Sosnowski found a spot for several light jabs which gave Vitali a senseof urgency. he responded well with another right to the body which almost doubled Sosnowski and a left hand to make him a bit wobbly. All in all, it was an even round though. The fourth stanza saw Albert being caught with a massive right, half-a-bolo and half-an-uppercut, by the champion. Klitschko started to use his left equalizer more and more frequently. Sosnowski, losing what was left of his fight, landed several jabs. His legs were put too wide though and his stance was too unbalanced to connect with something meaningful.
Round five was in Vitali's favour. He couldn't help landing both his hands and considerably shook Sosnowski several times; yet Albert was able to survive till the end of the round paying a price with his nose bleeding at the end of the stanza. Rounds six and seven were almost alike as Sosnowski pressed forward on sheer will but was unable to tag bigger, longer Klitschko with anything of note. Vitali used his hands more wisely and even gave a rare glimpse of showboating at the end of round seven. Between the rounds Fiodor Lapin, Sosnowski's head coach, asked him to move inside.
In round eight, the Polish fighter continued to display his bravery and heart by trying to follow his trainer's instructions. He had some tiny success but it wasn't enough to prevent Klitschko to deal more and more punishment with each second of the fight. In round nine it became obvious that Albert Sosnowski would be lucky to survive until the final bell. After a good start, he ate a monstrous right hand by the champion and started to shakingly flow around the ring. At the very end of the round the Big Brother landed another series of punches which almost stopped Sosnowski for good but he went on with the fight.
Round ten proved it was only a matter of time and space before the Dragon would be buried by a stronger, fresher knight in the reigning champion. At the start of the second minute Vitali landed a major right hand and Sosnowski almost touched the canvas with his hands. He looked to be out on his feet, and he proved it a couple of seconds later when a huge right (yet another one!) by Vitali sent WBC #11 ranked heavyweight down hard, prompting veteran referee Jay Nady to waved this fight off immediately at 2:20 of the tenth stanza.
BoxingsScene had it 100-91 at the time of stoppage. Yet another frightening display of skills by the WBC champion who looked (once again) everything but unbeatable.
Vitali threw in a name of Nikolai Valuev as one of the possible opponents during the post-fight quickie in the ring. That surely will be a barn-burner for the entire Eastern Europe.
Despite another kayo win, however, the public wasn't fully impressed with the card as there were some boos and catcalls over the course of the show; especially during the NABF title fight between Banks and Gavern.
Undercard Results
In an ugly display of rotten habits and vehemently unsportsmanlike conduct, both NABF reigning heavyweight champion Johnathon Banks and journeyman challenger Jason Gavern turned a possible entertainer into literally a snorefest of epic proportions. Amazingly, Gavern (19-7-4, 8 KOs) almost continued his unexpected run as a heavyweight fringe contender by holding much more promising (on paper) Banks (24-1-1, 17 KOs) to a twelve-round majority draw.
WBC #7 and IBF #12 Banks started the fight boxing on his toes, trying to land a sharp left jab and in order to do so keeping his left hand pretty low. In the first couple of rounds, he was able to avoid Gavern's rugged and raw aggression but landed no punches of note himself. Round three was a close one and it was almost the last round to see any notable action, which could be called "boxing" and not a "wrestling". From round four, Gavern found an inside road to his mild success by imposing his will on unconcentrated and unwilling titlist Banks initiating a muddle in close quarters. Banks tried to establish his left jab but missed a lot and just couldn't let his hands go even a bit.
Both fighters exchanged in the fourth and fifth stanzas. Rounds six through eight were as ugly as they go as both boxers used a variety of dirty tactics by clinching, holding and wrestling on the inside plus using elbows frequently and hitting behind the back of the head.
Gavern was deducted a point for ducking low in the sixth stanza, and Banks lost his point in the seventh round. Banks also showed some hints of life in the ninth by putting his foe on the deck, which wasn't ruled a knockdown by referee Juerghen Langos. However, Gavern came back with severe yet ineffective activity in the tenth and eleventh trying to break Banks physically. Johnathon, on the other hand, used little technique to avoid infighting and clinches and showed no skills which fascinated some fans during his days as a cruiserweight contender. His jab was too lazy and so was him.
The last round was an epithome of the fight as both boxers wrestled more than boxed. At the end, two judges saw this "battle" a draw with scores of 113-113, while the other gave his vote to Banks with the score 115-111. BoxingScene leaned towards underdog Gavern with 112-114. Nevertheless it was a big setback (and step back) for both wannabe contender Banks and his opponent, who looked no bit as funny as he was against Oleg Platov and as skillful as he was against Manuel Quezada.
Also 31-year old Serbian Nenad Borovcanin (26-0, 18 KOs) proved again that he had some thick padding to his record by outpointing Kenyan journeyman Raymond Ochieng (21-11-3, 17 KOs) unanimously over six rounds. A fight before the very same Ochieng was stopped in less than a minute by hard-hitting Russian Magomed Abdusalamov, who was just 6-0 at the time.
