Tweet
from kevin iole from yahoo sports
For years, wily trainer George Benton would urge patience between rounds to overeager fighters, whose machismo would frequently cause them to lose sight of their game plans.
“Win this fight,” Benton would implore them, often telling them not to worry about a booing crowd. “Look good in the next one.”
But if Benton were training Vitali Klitschko – and, as an aside, Klitschko would be a whole lot better off if he were – it might be the one time in his life he’d urge his fighter to let the fists fly from the first bell to the last.
Klitschko, 37, will fight WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter on Saturday at the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany, in a match will be broadcast in the U.S. on Showtime.
It will be Klitschko’s first fight in nearly four years, since he was forced to retire because of a recurring string of injuries.
There is no doubt that a fit, healthy and active Klitschko would have no problem handling the best Peter could bring.
You can’t rely on a guy to go 12 full rounds hard when he’s had more injuries over the past four years than USC has had All-Americans. Klitschko’s no guarantee to be standing at the final bell even if he’s winning every round handily and Peter is hardly laying a glove on him.
He’s as fragile as a crystal vase, and not too many crystal vases have a 6-foot, 250-pound guy with a neck the size of a small beer keg and hands the size of canned hams trying to beat it senseless.
It makes sense that Klitschko’s only hope of regaining the title he was forced to surrender when he couldn’t make it to the post for a 2005 defense against Hasim Rahman is to try to make it a short fight.
The longer the bout goes, the better the odds are not only of Peter landing a fight-ending haymaker, but also of Klitschko’s body once again betraying him.
This guy is no Joe Louis. There is going to be no 25 consecutive successful title defenses if he has another reign. Heck, he’s lucky if he fights 25 rounds in this comeback. That would mean at least three fights and I’d put the odds of that at around the same as I would of the Clippers winning an NBA title this year.
That is, unlikely.
Extremely unlikely.
Klitschko, though, has the tools to stand his ground and win a slugfest with Peter, no matter how unlikely a strategy it may seem. He held his own in such a fight with Lennox Lewis in 2003 and Lewis is a far better, more complete fighter than Peter. Peter has a reputation as a power puncher, but it’s no guarantee that he’s a harder puncher than Lewis.
Most of the men whom Peter has fought have had to respect his power, but Peter himself been able to wade in with impunity because with few exceptions, he’s rarely had to worry about what’s been coming back. But he’ll know early on that he’ll have to respect Klitschko’s power.
Now, Klitschko’s punches are likely to be long and slow, at least early, as he struggles to regain his timing and his sense of place in the ring. That may give Peter an edge early.
Still, Klitschko doesn’t have time on his side. He needs to get out and make something happen and he needs to make it happen before his body decides it would rather be at Sunset Beach.
He simply needs to throw punches and step to the side to avoid what is almost certain to be an onrushing Peter. When Peter misses a wild shot, as he does in every fight, Klitschko must make him pay dearly for it by cracking him with a counter right.
If the fight begins to drag on and little is happening, that’s a clear sign of a winning strategy for Peter. As the rounds toll, it benefits Peter, whose conditioning is more likely to hold and who isn’t likely to suffer a physical breakdown.
Peter’s power will still be there in rounds 9, 10, 11 and 12. If Klitschko can even make it that far, it’s not that likely his power will accompany him.
The good news in all of this is that it may mean that the fans get the rarest of commodities in heavyweight boxing: A good fight.
Peter, as reigning champion, isn’t happy to have been forced to fight in Germany, which has become sort of a second home for Klitschko and his younger brother, IBF-WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko.
He hasn’t been thrilled with how he’s been treated in Germany, and he knows that there have been more questionable decisions rendered in Germany than perhaps anywhere in the world.
If something shady happens in boxing, more often than not on a per capita basis, it occurs in Germany.
All of that gives Peter the motivation to go for a knockout.
Klitschko’s health concerns ought to give him the same type of motivation.
If it does, it’s going to be a very good night for boxing.
There actually might be a heavyweight fight worth picking up the phone and calling a friend to urge him to watch.
For years, wily trainer George Benton would urge patience between rounds to overeager fighters, whose machismo would frequently cause them to lose sight of their game plans.
“Win this fight,” Benton would implore them, often telling them not to worry about a booing crowd. “Look good in the next one.”
But if Benton were training Vitali Klitschko – and, as an aside, Klitschko would be a whole lot better off if he were – it might be the one time in his life he’d urge his fighter to let the fists fly from the first bell to the last.
Klitschko, 37, will fight WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter on Saturday at the O2 World Arena in Berlin, Germany, in a match will be broadcast in the U.S. on Showtime.
It will be Klitschko’s first fight in nearly four years, since he was forced to retire because of a recurring string of injuries.
There is no doubt that a fit, healthy and active Klitschko would have no problem handling the best Peter could bring.
You can’t rely on a guy to go 12 full rounds hard when he’s had more injuries over the past four years than USC has had All-Americans. Klitschko’s no guarantee to be standing at the final bell even if he’s winning every round handily and Peter is hardly laying a glove on him.
He’s as fragile as a crystal vase, and not too many crystal vases have a 6-foot, 250-pound guy with a neck the size of a small beer keg and hands the size of canned hams trying to beat it senseless.
It makes sense that Klitschko’s only hope of regaining the title he was forced to surrender when he couldn’t make it to the post for a 2005 defense against Hasim Rahman is to try to make it a short fight.
The longer the bout goes, the better the odds are not only of Peter landing a fight-ending haymaker, but also of Klitschko’s body once again betraying him.
This guy is no Joe Louis. There is going to be no 25 consecutive successful title defenses if he has another reign. Heck, he’s lucky if he fights 25 rounds in this comeback. That would mean at least three fights and I’d put the odds of that at around the same as I would of the Clippers winning an NBA title this year.
That is, unlikely.
Extremely unlikely.
Klitschko, though, has the tools to stand his ground and win a slugfest with Peter, no matter how unlikely a strategy it may seem. He held his own in such a fight with Lennox Lewis in 2003 and Lewis is a far better, more complete fighter than Peter. Peter has a reputation as a power puncher, but it’s no guarantee that he’s a harder puncher than Lewis.
Most of the men whom Peter has fought have had to respect his power, but Peter himself been able to wade in with impunity because with few exceptions, he’s rarely had to worry about what’s been coming back. But he’ll know early on that he’ll have to respect Klitschko’s power.
Now, Klitschko’s punches are likely to be long and slow, at least early, as he struggles to regain his timing and his sense of place in the ring. That may give Peter an edge early.
Still, Klitschko doesn’t have time on his side. He needs to get out and make something happen and he needs to make it happen before his body decides it would rather be at Sunset Beach.
He simply needs to throw punches and step to the side to avoid what is almost certain to be an onrushing Peter. When Peter misses a wild shot, as he does in every fight, Klitschko must make him pay dearly for it by cracking him with a counter right.
If the fight begins to drag on and little is happening, that’s a clear sign of a winning strategy for Peter. As the rounds toll, it benefits Peter, whose conditioning is more likely to hold and who isn’t likely to suffer a physical breakdown.
Peter’s power will still be there in rounds 9, 10, 11 and 12. If Klitschko can even make it that far, it’s not that likely his power will accompany him.
The good news in all of this is that it may mean that the fans get the rarest of commodities in heavyweight boxing: A good fight.
Peter, as reigning champion, isn’t happy to have been forced to fight in Germany, which has become sort of a second home for Klitschko and his younger brother, IBF-WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko.
He hasn’t been thrilled with how he’s been treated in Germany, and he knows that there have been more questionable decisions rendered in Germany than perhaps anywhere in the world.
If something shady happens in boxing, more often than not on a per capita basis, it occurs in Germany.
All of that gives Peter the motivation to go for a knockout.
Klitschko’s health concerns ought to give him the same type of motivation.
If it does, it’s going to be a very good night for boxing.
There actually might be a heavyweight fight worth picking up the phone and calling a friend to urge him to watch.
Comment