Tweet
Once upon a time, the World heavyweight championship was considered the sport’s most prestigious crown. The fighter who possessed the title was, quite simply, the best fighter in the world and who commanded the most attention.
You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would associate that statement with Wladimir Klitschko, whose fights are rarely competitive and often lacking sustained action. But there’s no question that he is the dominant heavyweight of his era, a concept that was floated when he turned pro following a Gold medal run for Ukraine in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Klitschko took the scenic route to get to that point, overcoming three embarrassing knockout losses to now enjoying a 20-fight unbeaten streak. Even at age 38 and through 65 career fights, the perfectly sculpted 6’6” heavyweight has shown no signs of slowing down.
In the 10th defense of his lineal championship (and 17th consecutive defense of at least one alphabet belt), Klitschko once again takes on the leading contender to his throne, facing unbeaten Kubrat Pulev at O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany (Saturday, 4:45PM ET, HBO).
Pulev is regarded as the best heavyweight in the world not named Klitschko. The same rang true for Alexander Povetkin ahead of their clash a year ago, as well Ruslan Chagaev in 2009, and even Chris Byrd at the time of their April ’06 rematch, which launched Klitschko’s second alphabet title reign.
Klitschko (62-3, 52KOs) is now in pursuit of the history books. His 16 consecutive defenses of at least one title is good for third all time, placing him behind all-time greats Larry Holmes and Joe Louis. While Louis was universally celebrated over the course of his historic reign – which lasted 11 years and through 25 successful title defenses – Holmes’ incredible run became more appreciated after the fact.
In that sense, it’s easy to suggest that Klitschko’s reign draws closer parallels to that of Holmes, as well as his predecessor Lennox Lewis.
As far as challengers go, there’s no true blueprint on Pulev (20-0, 11KOs). The unbeaten contender from Bulgaria engages in his first major title fight, a moment for which he has waited more than a year – and even getting to that point was met with considerable delay and a lot of resistance from his divisional peers.
Pulev emerged among the best heavyweights on the strength of a 2012 in-ring campaign that boasted consecutive 11th round knockout wins over Alexander Dimitrenko and Alexander Ustinov. The latter was part of a four-man box-off that was to determine the next mandatory challenger for Klitschko.
The hardest part of the series for Pulev was finding a willing dance partner. Tomasz Adamek was part of the four-man tournament, but – following a controversial points win in his rematch with Steve Cunningham in the semi-finals – opted out of the final eliminator. Tyson Fury also passed on the opportunity when offered, leaving Pulev inactive for 11 months before landing a fight with – and soundly outpointing – perennial contender Tony Thompson to earn the title shot.
That moment came 15 months ago. Pulev has spent his time with a pair of tune-up fights, neither one intended to present much of a challenge. Meanwhile, Klitschko was busy outpointing leading contender Povetkin – albeit in an ugly, foul-filled fight – and stopping Alex Leapai in the 5th round of his most recent defense this past April.
Will Klitschko continue his march towards the history books? Or will Pulev find a way to shock the Ukrainian giant, and the boxing world?
Read on to see how the staff at BoxingScene.com believes Saturday’s World heavyweight championship action goes down in Hamburg, Germany. [Click Here To Read More]
You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would associate that statement with Wladimir Klitschko, whose fights are rarely competitive and often lacking sustained action. But there’s no question that he is the dominant heavyweight of his era, a concept that was floated when he turned pro following a Gold medal run for Ukraine in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Klitschko took the scenic route to get to that point, overcoming three embarrassing knockout losses to now enjoying a 20-fight unbeaten streak. Even at age 38 and through 65 career fights, the perfectly sculpted 6’6” heavyweight has shown no signs of slowing down.
In the 10th defense of his lineal championship (and 17th consecutive defense of at least one alphabet belt), Klitschko once again takes on the leading contender to his throne, facing unbeaten Kubrat Pulev at O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany (Saturday, 4:45PM ET, HBO).
Pulev is regarded as the best heavyweight in the world not named Klitschko. The same rang true for Alexander Povetkin ahead of their clash a year ago, as well Ruslan Chagaev in 2009, and even Chris Byrd at the time of their April ’06 rematch, which launched Klitschko’s second alphabet title reign.
Klitschko (62-3, 52KOs) is now in pursuit of the history books. His 16 consecutive defenses of at least one title is good for third all time, placing him behind all-time greats Larry Holmes and Joe Louis. While Louis was universally celebrated over the course of his historic reign – which lasted 11 years and through 25 successful title defenses – Holmes’ incredible run became more appreciated after the fact.
In that sense, it’s easy to suggest that Klitschko’s reign draws closer parallels to that of Holmes, as well as his predecessor Lennox Lewis.
As far as challengers go, there’s no true blueprint on Pulev (20-0, 11KOs). The unbeaten contender from Bulgaria engages in his first major title fight, a moment for which he has waited more than a year – and even getting to that point was met with considerable delay and a lot of resistance from his divisional peers.
Pulev emerged among the best heavyweights on the strength of a 2012 in-ring campaign that boasted consecutive 11th round knockout wins over Alexander Dimitrenko and Alexander Ustinov. The latter was part of a four-man box-off that was to determine the next mandatory challenger for Klitschko.
The hardest part of the series for Pulev was finding a willing dance partner. Tomasz Adamek was part of the four-man tournament, but – following a controversial points win in his rematch with Steve Cunningham in the semi-finals – opted out of the final eliminator. Tyson Fury also passed on the opportunity when offered, leaving Pulev inactive for 11 months before landing a fight with – and soundly outpointing – perennial contender Tony Thompson to earn the title shot.
That moment came 15 months ago. Pulev has spent his time with a pair of tune-up fights, neither one intended to present much of a challenge. Meanwhile, Klitschko was busy outpointing leading contender Povetkin – albeit in an ugly, foul-filled fight – and stopping Alex Leapai in the 5th round of his most recent defense this past April.
Will Klitschko continue his march towards the history books? Or will Pulev find a way to shock the Ukrainian giant, and the boxing world?
Read on to see how the staff at BoxingScene.com believes Saturday’s World heavyweight championship action goes down in Hamburg, Germany. [Click Here To Read More]
Comment