PATIENT KLITSCHKO BY 10th ROUND TKO

Vladimir Klitschko vs Jameel Mccline - Preview

Janne Romppainen

03.12 - Vitaly Klitschko passed his final exam before his proposed title fight against the heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis by pounding the tricky Larry Donald for nine rounds before stopping him in the tenth. The older Klitschko didn’t impress everybody to believe that he is a legitimate threat for the champ but he certainly has now deserved a chance.

However, the more eagerly waited challenge from the Ukrainian family comes from the junior brother Wladimir. If everything goes as planned, he is supposed to face Lewis late next year. But before he can try to reach to the sun he has to climb a formidable man-mountain as he meets a hot American prospect Jameel McCline in December.

Wladimir Klitschko is the more appreciated fighter of the giant brothers but he is also facing a bigger (also literally) foe than his Vitaly did last weekend. McCline is without a question a top-ten fighter and whoever wins the match-up will be universally recognized as the most deserving contender for Lewis.

Trying to predict the outcome is as hard as it gets because although they both are familiar names for the fight fans, we still know quite a little about them. This is a classical fight between two prospects where the winner will prove himself while the other one will be, at least in a certain extent, ‘exposed’.

Klitschko has made his name after his successful amateur career by defeating the slick Chris Byrd on points. Apart from that he has fought pretty much second-rated opponents and looked good in doing so, knocking out the likes of Francois Botha, Axel Schultz, Derrick Jefferson, Monte Barret and most recently and famously the iron-jawed Ray Mercer. Even though Klitschko has gathered a whole bunch of good victories, some fight fans are still convinced that he will succumb when some better class fighter puts the pressure on him. The same people often remind about the only blemish on Klitschko’s record when he ran out of gas and got stopped by an American journeyman Ross Puritty back in 1998. Some feel that the fighter who will expose Klitschko’s weaknesses could indeed be McCline. What should be remembered, though, is that some said the same about Ray Mercer and he was reduced to a punching bag at Klitschko’s hands.

As for Jameel McCline, the so-called ‘Big Time’ got a less-than-spectacular start for his career being 2-2-1 after his first five fights. After that he has been unbeaten in 28 fights, knocking out half of those opponents and fighting two draws. He broke to the world level (literally) in 2001 by stopping the former prospect Michael Grant in only 43 seconds as Grant broke his ankle when falling from McCline’s punch. McCline has continued his good path since by taking home decision victories over the contenders Goofi (former and latter Lance Whitaker) and Shannon Briggs. Despite these achievements the sceptics remain also over him. He was anyhow stopped in one round by Gary Bell early in his career. What happens when he gets hit by a punch as hard as Klitschko’s?

Both of these man are used to have a size advantage over the opponents but in this fight it is not a real benefit for either of them. Klitschko is probably a shade taller while McCline is the heavier man. They both are quick guys for men of their size. Klitschko has the most notable advantages in experience, punching power, he has stopped a total of 34 opponents in 38 fights, and in technique. Klitscko’s stamina is still a question mark after the Puritty bout, while McCline has proved his. If the fight goes to the later rounds it might become a deciding factor. The battle of the jabs is important too and both fighters have very good left hands while in combination punching Klitschko has the edge. One question mark over Klitschko after his bout with Mercer is also his skin. Despite Mercer landed only a couple of jabs, the Ukrainian’s eyes started to swell rapidly. If McCline is able to score with his jab more frequently it could cause a real problem for him.

With two relatively newcomer (in the top level) fighters the predicting will be much of a guessing game. My guess here is that Klitschko will take the control early on with his power and he will be able to push McCline back. McCline is known as a safety-first fighter so I don’t think it will be an explosive fight. I don't think McCline has the power to hang in there with Wladimir, after all, he wasn’t able to get rid of Shannon Briggs who, while gutsy, is not nearly the fighter Klitschko is. McCline has his moments and he will probably win a round or two but eventually Klitscko will wear him down. I would place my bet for an eighth-round victory for Klitschko. On a second thought, maybe I’ll bet for the weather instead...