Klitschko vs Lewis: The heavyweight division comes alive BIG time!

By Janne Romppainen

11.06 - After a whole year of speculations and guessing games Lennox Lewis is finally defending his universally recognized heavyweight crown. On 21st of June Lewis faces one of his most intriguing challengers out there, the Ukrainan giant Vitaly Klitschko. The fight, which was originally planned to be held in December came together at final moment as Lewis’ challenger, Canadian Kirk Johnson had to pull out because of an injury he got during his training camp. Klitschko, who had been getting ready for his undercard fight against Cedric Boswell stepped in with two weeks notice.

Whether or not Vitaly Klitschko is more deserving challenger than Johnson would have been is debatable. However, it seems like the upcoming fight interests the crowd more than the original one. Klitschko is a gigantic figure, standing at 6’8 and weighing a near 250 pounds. He has a record of 32 victories against only one defeat and all but one of his wins have come inside the scheduled time limit. Even though the Ukrainan has yet to be tested at the world level he creates some public interest with his mere looks. And besides that, even though he is a clear underdog entering the bout he actually has a chance to pull it off.

Even though both fighters are large-sized, there are many things that separate them. There are some things that we know about them and a whole bunch of factors we can’t be certain of. I have broken the fight to some components which I think will eventually decide the winner.

Age

The champion Lewis is certainly getting up in age, he becomes 38 later this year. However, as a fighter he isn’t old in the sense that he has actually gotten better during the last six years. Lewis clearly is one of the ‘late-development’ type of fighters. In his last fights against Hasim Rahman and Mike Tyson respectively he has looked more relaxed and better coordinated than maybe ever before in his career. He still has the power to knock anybody out and even though he has been slightly slowing down he still has some movement to compete with too.

Considering that Vitaly Klitschko is already 32 a month after the fight he hasn’t done too much in his career yet. However, now he has a chance to change all that. He is reaching the best years of his career now and he hasn’t been in draining wars that would have weakened. He has never been known as a speedster anyway so even though he is in his thirties he should be as ready as he ever will be.

Advantage: Klitschko

Experience

Lewis has been a top fighter in the division for over a decade. During those years he has fought seventeen world title fights and practically faced all of his most credible challengers. Lewis has been included in mega-fights such as his bouts with Tyson and Holyfield the first time out, he has faced big punchers as well as tricky opponents and he has also met unknown potentials, such as Michael Grant. Lewis has demonstrated that he is able to fight his way out of troubles (Mercer, Briggs)and he knows how it feels to get knocked out too, so practically there is nothing unfamiliar for him in the ring anymore. Few fighters in the world are more experienced than him.

As stated earlier, the situation with Klitschko is totally different. Even though he already has had 33 fights he really hasn’t been at the top for long. His breakthrough was a second-round knockout victory over Herbie Hide back in 1999. Klitschko has faced some good opponents but never a really big puncher nor aside from Chris Byrd a top ten fighter. It is uncertain how will he react when he steps to the biggest event of his lifetime. The moment when Michael Buffer yells “Let’s get ready to rumble” can make a tough man to fold, lose his concepts and forget all he has learned about boxing. Whether that will be the case with Klitschko remains to be seen.

Advantage: Lewis

Psychological fight

One of the most interesting things coming to the fight is the psychological factor. Lewis is known to be mentally a very strong fighter who has usually been able to produce a great performance when needed. However, he has also looked uninspired, as against Zeljko Mavrovic, and even overconfident which lead to a disaster against Hasim Rahman first time out. Maybe Lewis learned his lesson from that. On the other side of the coin, Lewis has achieved everything in his career. That might lead to lack of motivation, or, for some, it can lead to even better results as there is no more stress about stabilizing your place in the history.

As for Klitschko, he has one big factor on his side. Even though he lost to Chris Byrd after he injured his shoulder during the fight, he has never really been the lesser man in the ring, he was winning that bout too easily before the incident that forced him quit. So in a sense Klitschko doesn’t know whether he can be beaten in the ring or not and that might give him a big psychological advantage. However, the championship ring is a totally unknown place for him. That added to a fact that he has had only two weeks to concentrate to the event must make him feel nervous. Klitschko certainly has the hunger as he has waited for his chance for so long, but after the Byrd fight there has always been a question mark over his heart.

Advantage: Lewis

Size

This truly is a big heavyweight fight in many senses. The reigning champion is a huge fellow at 6’5 and 249 pounds for his last fight. He has a reach of 84 inches which he uses very effectively in his advantage.

The challenger is looking to be the tallest man to win the world title. He is 6’8 and weighs about 250 lbs as well. His reach is listed to only 80 inches, but the fact that he can punch straight down while his opponents have to reach for him adds his physical measurements. Klitschko is narrowly the bigger man, but that might play in Lewis’ hands because he has always looked impressive against tall fighters

Advantage: even

Boxing skills and versatility

Lewis has been widely considered as one of the most skilful fighters. After Emmanuel Steward became his trainer, he has been improving continuously. Lewis has developed a quick, sharp, rangy and accurate left jab with which he has dominated many of his opponents. His weapon arsenal includes also a terrific right cross and a devastating uppercut at close quarters. Defensively Lewis is also one of the most tricky boxers, he is hard to catch with clean shots and at inside he clinches his opponents effectively. Even the old stumbling block of his game, the footwork, has improved a great deal. If there is a weakness in his skills it probably is that sometimes Lewis may appear clumsy when he forgets to jab and attacks with lead right-handers.

Klitschko’s style of fighting is based on utilizing his reach. Klitschko likes to control the fights from outside, throwing effective one-two combinations. His arsenal doesn’t include many hooks but so far he has done well without them. In defensive Klitschko has shown very good reflexes but besides them he seems to lack some basic skills. As has been the case with his brother Wladimir Klitschko to whom Vitaly is often compared, he has a habit to retreat straight back from his opponents, which exposes his chin for counter punches. So far he has dealt with them, but now he faces a puncher that will punish him hard from every error he makes. Also we don’t know how he reacts if he gets into trouble. Wladimir wasn’t able to clinch Corries Sanders when he was groggy and he got knocked out. Vitaly has to show something more than that. Personally I think this component is the one where there is the biggest gap between the fighters.

Advantage: Lewis

Punching power and chin

Despite being one of the premier boxers in the heavyweight Lewis also is one of the strongest punchers out there. He has knocked out 31 out of the 40 opponents he has defeated and that record includes some big names. Lewis’ main weapon is his right cross, but he can produce a knockout with his uppercut and also with his often-unused left hook

On contrast the champion’s chin is one of the most debatable factors of the fights. He has been twice knocked out by single right-handers by Oliver McCall and Hasim Rahman as we well know. In addition to those instances he has touched the canvas against both Shannon Briggs and Henry Akinwande. In the contrary, Lewis has taken some shots by the likes of Mike Tyson, David Tua, Tommy Morrison and Frank Bruno without going down. So he certainly is vulnerable but still not easily decapitated.

As for Vitaly Klitschko, we don’t know much about him yet because of the level of his opponents. He has an impressive record of 32 victories with 31 knockouts, which is something few fighters can match. Among those victims there are some notable names such as Vaughn Bean, who stood the full rounds against Michael Moorer and Evander Holyfield, and Larry Donald, who survived everything Riddick Bowe and Kirk Johnson had to offer. What we can conclude from this is that Klitschko can knock out what he can hit. Will that be the case against Lewis is a different story.

Klitschko’s chin is also unproven. He has been clocked with some clean punches that he has taken well so far but Lewis is as a puncher in entirely different league than any of his former opponents. Wladimir Klitschko’s chin got exposed in his last fight but he had been downed earlier in his career too whereas Vitaly has not. These question marks over both men will be solved in the ring, so far we can’t tell anything certain about them.

Advantage: even

Prediction for the outcome

In the pre-fight speculations there have been two main views about how the fight will turn out. Some are willing to draw comparisons between Klitschko and Michael Grant who failed badly in his attempt to blast Lewis out and instead got stretched in two rounds. This prediction is based on the weaknesses that Klitschko obviously has in his defensive technique and Lewis should be able to exploit them early.

The other view is that Lewis’ chin is indeed vulnerable and Klitschko almost certainly hits harder than Hasim Rahman. Also Lewis might have become old during all this waiting game, there is no certainty about his motivation and these factors might lead to Klitscko to pull off the upset. Klitschko has shown good stamina in his fights and a long battle might favour him more than Lewis.

Personally I wouldn’t bet on the upset here. Klitschko is a good fighter and he certainly does have a chance of winning, but in my opinion his style plays straight into the champion’s hands. I expect Lewis to score with his right crosses through Klitschko’s wide defence and end the matters inside seven rounds. However, I am not disappointed if the contrary happens, Vitaly Klitschko is a very nice personality and with his victory the division would become much more interesting again.

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