12.12.04 – By Marcus Wood: While many had predicted that Klitschko would beat Williams and just as many had predicted it would be by KO, few would have said Klitschko would shut Williams out from the first bell. As soon as Williams charged at Klitschko and was driven back by his text book jabs, Williams’ chances seemed to diminish, mainly because jabbing is what Klitschko did best and if that was all it took for Klitschko to drive Williams back, he didn’t have a chance..
Nobody could have foreseen that Williams was going to be knocked down in the first round. It was well publicized before the fight that Williams’ confidence has always been shaky, and the knockdown shattered Williams. When any fighter’s confidence leaves them, let alone a fragile man like Williams, it’s going to make it that much tougher. Because of the knockdown,from the first round the fight was effectively over for Williams. Klitschko, however, was just warming up. In the second round any chance of Williams making a comeback was quickly draining away but in the third round hopes were rekindled when Williams hurt Klitschko with a body shot but any good done was quickly taken back when Williams walked into a power loaded shot and was floored again.
In round five, it became more a matter of when Williams would give in rather than if he would. In that round, Williams’ face began to swell up simply because it had been hit so many times rather than any power shots. By round seven, suggestions were beginning to grow that his corner should seriously consider stopping the fight. Williams fell for a third time and his eyes were beginning to swell shut. In the eighth, a clean right hand of Klitschko’s put Williams down again. Although he clambered to his feet again, the referee made the merciful decision to end it there.
So what went wrong in the Britons title bid? The fact that Williams was coming into this fight much heavier than he ever had been in his career probably wasn’t a great decision. Whether the extra weight did give him any extra power was irrelevant because he was too slow to actually get on the inside of Klitschko, probably because of the extra weight. Williams had limited head movement and slow reactions, which well could have been due to the extra weight as well. Could Williams have done anything different in the fight itself which would have changed the outcome? Probably not. Williams’ foot movement was, well, frankly terrible. He didn’t move inside Klitschko’s defence but instead attempted to plough right through it, which he thought he could do with the extra weight. It could have worked on an opponent with a shorter reach but all Klitschko had to do was keep his body out of reach and keep jabbing. Klitschko registered 296 punches to Williams’ 44 which really reflects how slow William was and it was that easy for Klitschko, who’s not the fastest puncher in the game, to hit him. Just shows how far Mike Tyson has fallen, bad leg or not, that he was beaten by Williams.
So what lessons can we take away from this fight straight away? Well, Klitschko is one of the best in the division. But then again we already knew that. Well it now appears he is THE best in the heavyweight division. For all their credits, Byrd and Ruiz wouldn’t have been able to dominate Williams like that. This brings us on to the next lesson. If Byrd and Brewster were
wary of Klitschko before they’re not going to want to go near him now. Byrd would use completely different tactics to Williams but that will make no difference. Ruiz, sick of the constant criticism, has called on Klitschko for a fight. The only difference between what Williams did Saturday and what Ruiz would do is that Ruiz would be looking to hug Klitschko if he got inside but Williams was looking for body shots. Oh, and Ruiz would probably move more. Arguably the biggest thing that can be taken away is now the division has the chance to reconstruct a top and bottom. Virtually everyone to do with boxing has been saying the division is wide open right now. After the destruction of Williams there is now Klitschko and everyone else. Few
journeyman or one hit wonders like Williams will be challenging Klitschko anymore, so the world champion has been defined and the journeymen will remain that way, not world title contenders. This fight should also teach you that just because someone beats a great legend that has seen better days; it is not the same as beating them when they were in their prime.
Why I hear you ask, were so many people, including many boxing pundits who should have known better, predicting a Williams victory? Simply put they bought into the hype. Frank Warren and his accomplices set out to make people believe Williams beat a Mike Tyson at the peak of his powers, and it was just nerves that had prevented him stepping up to this level before. And
what a glorious job they did of it. By Saturday they had everyone believing this was at least going to be competitive, which is what PPV audiences want to see. Shows how powerful promoters can be.
In the Aftermath, Danny Williams should retire or at least take a long break now. But of course, he won’t. He’s tasted the big leagues and in his eyes, he’ll have at least a shorter path to another title shot. Vitali Klitschko will now have access to bigger money but less legitimate opponents has he becomes the respected and essential piece of the heavyweight picture. The Iron Mike wild card has now been used and there are no more legends left whose reputation carries that kind of weight so their won’t be a repeat of this story for awhile.
Still better than Don King’s Battle For Supremacy.