Boxing

Klitschko vs Sanders: The Hidden Head butt?

By Ron Widelec

09.03 - This article is about something I "THINK" I saw last night. In fact, this isn't really an article at all. Its more of a call for assistance to validate, or discredit, something that I think I saw, but cannot be certain of.

Last night in Germany we saw the WBO heavyweight title-holder, Wladimir Klitschko, crumble before the punching power of the South African, Corrie Sanders. Or did we?

In real time it looks like Corrie Sanders landed a decent hook to the side of Wladimir's face, and Wlad crashed to the ground. He never recovered his wits from the first knockdown, and it was all over from there.

However, when HBO showed the first knockdown in slow motion, I thought for a second that there might have been a head butt right before the hook that sent Klitschko reeling. Again, I am not certain that it happened, and I watched the various angles on the instant replays over and over again, and each time, especially from the bird's eye view, there definitely seemed to be a fast head butt. Nobody at HBO saw it, and I have heard no one else mention at all, which is why I was not sure whether or not I should even write this. It is very possible that I am mistaken (it is hard to believe that I saw something, and everyone else missed it).

But then I watch the tape, and I am almost certain that they clanked heads. So I write this not to tell everyone that there was a head butt, but instead to bring up the possibility, in the hopes that those of you with the fight on tape can double-check this. Check in the slow motion replay, and see if Klitschko's head shudders about a half second before the hook lands. His head shook, and rocked back for a second, and then the hook landed.

I am not in anyway trying to claim foul play on Sanders' part. I am not saying that there was any intent (or even that there was a head butt), but if there was, this would explain why Klitschko was so disoriented from the first hook, which did not seem like that solid a shot. After the first knockdown, Sander delivered clean, solid shots to finish Wlad off, but the unsteadiness of the first knockdown seems to be more than I would expect from the kind of hook that landed.

So, please, before you start calling me crazy, check the fight. Before you start calling me "Klitschko lover" and accuse me of finding excuses, please just take a look at the fight again, and report what you find.

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