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By Cliff Rold - Wladimir Klitschko has been the Heavyweight Champion of the World for a long time. He violently looked like it two weeks ago. Matched with a Kubrat Pulev who pissed him off so much that he’s now suing Pulev for insinuations of PED use, Klitschko fought with a chip on his shoulder.
He destroyed the undefeated challenger. Four knockdowns topped off with a knockout of the year candidate were memorable. Fighters sometimes have what can be called time capsule performances. Those are the nights when they are so on that you can pull the tape and say to someone, “This is what made them great;” where they show off a little bit of everything in their arsenal.
They are the nights they look unbeatable.
Muhammad Ali’s performance against Cleveland Williams is often recalled this way. Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks is as well.
We know no one is really unbeatable. Occasionally, the rare fighter makes it to the finish without a loss but that’s just fortune. Ali and Tyson lost. Klitschko, though it’s been awhile, has been beaten. He probably will be again before he hangs them up.
The pursuit of his crown is more interesting when there are opponents who come to fight. Pulev did. The winner of this weekend’s big Heavyweight fight would.
As a bonus, they’d make the build to any challenge worth every sound bite.
Saturday in London (ESPN3.com, 5 PM EST/2 PM PST), consensus top ten Heavyweights Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KO) and Dereck Chisora (20-4, 13 KO) lock horns for the second time. The stakes are high. The winner of this WBO eliminator will presumably be a mandatory for Klitschko sometime in 2015. [Click Here To Read More]
He destroyed the undefeated challenger. Four knockdowns topped off with a knockout of the year candidate were memorable. Fighters sometimes have what can be called time capsule performances. Those are the nights when they are so on that you can pull the tape and say to someone, “This is what made them great;” where they show off a little bit of everything in their arsenal.
They are the nights they look unbeatable.
Muhammad Ali’s performance against Cleveland Williams is often recalled this way. Mike Tyson-Michael Spinks is as well.
We know no one is really unbeatable. Occasionally, the rare fighter makes it to the finish without a loss but that’s just fortune. Ali and Tyson lost. Klitschko, though it’s been awhile, has been beaten. He probably will be again before he hangs them up.
The pursuit of his crown is more interesting when there are opponents who come to fight. Pulev did. The winner of this weekend’s big Heavyweight fight would.
As a bonus, they’d make the build to any challenge worth every sound bite.
Saturday in London (ESPN3.com, 5 PM EST/2 PM PST), consensus top ten Heavyweights Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KO) and Dereck Chisora (20-4, 13 KO) lock horns for the second time. The stakes are high. The winner of this WBO eliminator will presumably be a mandatory for Klitschko sometime in 2015. [Click Here To Read More]
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