Lewis-Klitschko Preview

Photo: JORGE GARCIA

by Jeff Day

18.06 - At long last, the Heavyweight Championship of The World is put at stake by Lennox Lewis this Saturday night at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.

It will have been a year and a week since Lennox's destruction of Mike Tyson in Memphis. Come Saturday night, will Lewis be regretting that decision to carry on? Retirement seemed the logical option for the man who will be 38 in September.

History is replete with kings of the ring going on well past their sell-by date. The difference with Lewis, though, is that he always keeps himself in trim and has had few wars. His fights with fellow Brits Gary Mason and Frank Bruno were harder than perhaps they needed to have been and of course his desperate struggle with Ray Mercer back in 1995 and the second fight with Evander Holyfield springs to mind. On the whole, Lewis is a well-preserved champion.

At 38, Muhammad Ali was humiliated by Larry Holmes; Holmes himself at 38 destroyed by a peak Tyson; Joe Louis at 37 brutalised by a rampaging Rocky Marciano and even Jack Johnson, a defensive genius, was flattened by Jess Willard at 37.

With a record of 40 wins, 2 defeats and a draw, Lennox appears to be improving with age. He says like a fine wine. We shall see. He won't be the first fighter to grow old overnight and find the well is dry when is tries to pull himself through critical moments in a fight.

The question is can Klitschko be the man to send Lewis into retirement? Lennox has been talking this week with the air of a man who feels he cannot be dethroned. This is quite alarming when you consider his two defeats were as a direct result of taking the opponent too lightly and assuming he need only to turn up to win. (Not to mention thunderous right hands).

Against Donovan Ruddock, Andrew Golota, Michael Grant, David Tua and Mike Tyson, Lewis was focussed on the job in hand because he had respect and even a degree of fear of the opponent. With Vitali, my feeling is that Lennox believes he faces a man who has not yet served his apprenticeship. That his opponent is a boy in a man's world.

Lewis feels that the year long layoff has freshened him up. That he needed the break to gather his thoughts before the desire to lace 'em up returned. This could be the case. However, the old-timers would have said "to rest is to rust".

Lennox will also be in the rare situation of having to concede height to an opponent. Three inches in fact, although he was not unduly worried about Michael Grant who was similar in height to Vitali. The champion will have a four-inch reach advantage and he is likely to need it to keep the giant Ukrainian away. The challenger will be 32 next month and must now be in his prime. They should both weigh roughly the same, 245-250 lbs.

Interestingly, it was the right hands of McCall and Rahman (in the first meetings) that flattened Lewis and that is Klitschko's honey punch. If Lennox is in any way taking his opponent for granted, he is likely to pay a heavy price. The fact he accepted the fight with Vitali at short notice, after Kirk Johnson pulled out, shows Lewis' confidence, or maybe over-confidence. He has also taken a substantial pay cut and will be earning less than he would have done had this meeting taken place in November as was first mooted.

Of course, it says a lot for the challenger that he was prepared to step into Johnson's shoes at short notice, although he was due to meet Cedric Boswell on the undercard Saturday.

Vitali's last bout was a tenth round stoppage win over Larry Donald in November last year. With 31 of his 32 wins coming inside the distance (1 defeat), Klitschko certainly has the proverbial puncher's chance. Conversely, with Lennox not having the greatest of chins, the fight is intriguing to say the least.

Emmanuel Steward, the champion's trainer, has also stated that their strategy has had to alter with the change of opponent. Johnson was shorter and the champion was training with speed in mind. Now he will have to adopt a completely different approach. Being the World Heavyweight Champion he should have little problems doing so.

Does Vitali have the mental strength for the biggest occasion of his career? He will also be out to salvage some family pride after brother Wladimir was brutally exposed by South Africa's Corrie Sanders in March. As an added twist, it was Lewis who advised Sanders on how to deal with Vitali's younger brother!

Vitali's only defeat was on an injury (rotator cuff) against now IBF king Chris Byrd. It will also be only his second professional fight on American soil. If Lewis is complacent and looking ahead to a comfortable retirement, he could be making a monumental mistake against the man they call Ironfist.

Surely Lewis has learned the harsh lessons given to him by McCall and Rahman. I can see Lewis having a few nervous moments before asserting himself and working well behind the jab and giving Vitali plenty of movement and angles. By round five I expect to see Lennox picking up the pace and hammering the European with jabs and right hands until the referee intervenes.