12.12.04 – By Wray Edwards: As Danny Williams hurriedly trundled his record-breaking 270 pounds across the ring at Vitali Klitschko to start the FIRST ROUND, he looked like a really big troll attacking a Viking warrior. Vitali leaned back with a slightly surprised look (common to both brothers) as if trying to decide what to do with such ill-fated exuberance. He must have thought, “I’m trying to look contained and professional, and here comes this rowdy rough-houser all flailing and pushy; Most disturbing!”
Well, he had to get used to it because it was good evidence of how he was about to spend the next twenty-three minutes or so. As Klitschko hammered Danny about midway through the round with lefts and combos, we saw what turned out to be a preview of disaster for Williams. Shortly, Danny’s left eye is cut and he also absorbs a massive left hook at :58 and twenty seconds later a thundering right. ROUND TWO was pretty much target practice for Vitali. Lampley remarks that Williams seems to be hitting his stride. Yeah, right.
ROUND THREE also stars Lampley in disagreement with Roy Jones’ use of the word beautiful, regarding Klitschko’s boxing. He had no sooner spoken than Vitali delivered some truly beautiful punches…to which Roy retorted “See what I mean.” With ten seconds to go Vitali threw a left hook which glanced off of Danny’s right chest and caromed into William’s right chin. Two seconds later Danny’s forehead hit the canvass. He got up just in time to look into the perpetrator’s eye and hear the bell.
ROUND FOUR (which turned out to be the fight’s midway point) featured interesting examples of Vitali’s ability to take punches, roll with them, or dodge them altogether. It was in this round that Klitschko seemed to unveil a certain strategy. Though it appeared he was breathing hard, he also threw a lot of semi-punches which probably served two purposes. The first, of course was as range finders and reflex tests of William’s likely responses. The second, which is hard to prove, but might be possible, gave the impression that he was running out of gas and getting weak. When Danny seemed to take the bait from these pitty-pats and move in…kapow!! He would get a left lead and a massive right which could be heard all over the arena.
ROUND FIVE and SIX WERE more target practice for Vitali and since Danny answered not, Klitschko closed a two-pointer in the fifth. At the end of six Williams was obviously showing the effects of being what amounted to a heavy bag, and stumbled to his corner where two or three guys were constantly yelling at him all at once. Imagine having to face Vitali’s brutal assault for three minutes, and then enduring your corner’s screaming harrangs for sixty seconds; Poor guy.
ROUND SEVEN was the beginning of the end: 1:22 right uppercut, right cross, 1:21 left hook, 1:20 right cross…1:01 a left to the left of Williams face, and, as Danny misses a big left counter, he spins to his right and catches a Klitschko right glove and forearm to the neck and back which sends Williams prone near the ropes. The KD was probably an accumulation of effects from the Vitali left, over-momentum of his left counter, fatigue, and the right arm club to the back. A third eight is counted for the brave Brit who struggled to the end of the round.
ROUND EIGHT included suggestions by Larry Merchant that the fight should be stopped for Danny’s safety. Truly, Danny was not safe. Thirty four seconds in he absorbs a heavy right uppercut, then 2:23 a big right and 2:22 a left, then 2:20 a massive straight right which everybody felt, followed by another right uppercut. This was getting ugly. Name recognition generated by defeating an injured or past it Tyson, had caused Danny to place an order his body could not fill.
At 1:50 Williams deflects a Klitchko left with his right guard. Unknown to Williams, Vitali was loading a right uppercut from the sub-basement of the arena that struck Danny in the chest, causing him to grab his rib-cage with his left glove – in obvious pain. This was followed by a quick, short, right upper-cut to the chin. Danny staggered back, lifting his guards, as Vitally lunged forward with a straight left followed by a laser right to William’s face. Down he went, on his back, under the ropes, with his knees in the air.
Williams fourth episode of down-time left him just able to get to his feet. As he tried to convince Nady to let him play more with his friend Vitali, he must have said the wrong thing, because Jay told him to go sit in the corner. At end of his valiant effort, Williams was down ten or eleven points with little hope for anything but a lucky shot.
What have we learned? Defeating a big name is not the same as defeating a good boxer and proving your mettle. Name recognition in boxing does not work like it does in politics. Politicians can fade away into their offices, defended by interns and receptionists. Prize fighters who lobby successfully for the office of challenger, must face far more difficult assignments. Being famous does not equate with being able. Danny, and many others, confused fame with ability.
What should we do about what we have learned? Let’s see if we can get Vitali to pick on someone his own size. Many are projecting all sorts of pairings from Rahman to Ruiz (zzzzzz) to Brewster or Byrd. Why not try Andrew Golota? He has the size, the power and the style which compliment Vitali’s similar attributes. Instead of watching James Toney stand on his tippy-toes to take a swing at Vitali, why not bring these two Central-European big guys together for the grins. At worst, those of you who dislike Golota might get to see him well and truly decked – or
– maybe he will give Klitschko a real good fight.
Since they’ve never met, can we say with any certainty what might happen? The answer is No. Since Golota has no belt for King to hoard, and the bill would be pretty attractive, let the big guys roll. There is at least a 50/50 chance that Golota will cowboy up and get it on. He does so from time-to-time. Just think of the uproar if he should happen to be the first to knock Vitali down. Where is Andy when we need him?