12.11.06 – By Marcelles “Quenton” Brown: The look on Calvin Brock’s face before his fight between Klitschko showed how scared he was going into the fight, and the way he stumbled around the ring in the first few minutes, proved that he was overestimating his footwork, too. He was obviously nervous and as many predicted, he lost the fight. In the first round, Brock was slipping and sliding around the ring and grabbing Klitschko’s legs like he really didn’t want to fight. At one point, Brock clumsily fell to the canvas after being knocked off balance by Wladimir.
Brock did a good job at ducking under some punches but Klitschko had the reach advantage and towered over the shorter Brock. Klitschko refused to let Brock inside and held on to his lethal right hand until he was tired of playing around with Brock. In the second round, Brock landed a few body blows but they didn’t seem to faze Klitschko much. Klitschko, for the most part, controlled the entire fight with his left and landed the right when Brock least expected it.
By the third round, it was obvious that Brock’s ducking and dodging was his only defense. Klitschko hit him so hard with his left, and then followed it with a right, that it was clear to me that Brock was eventually going down. Brock seemed to be affecting Klitschko in the fourth round with some good body blows and holding him close to him but the referee broke it up and made Brock fight Klitschko head up.
Klitschko hurt Brock bad in the fifth round with two big straight right hands that caused Brock’s eye to swell up. In the meantime, Klitschko suffered a cut over his left eye from an accidental head butt in the sixth round, which caused the crowd began to chant “U.S.A.” because they thought Brock caused the damage. Both fighters slipped and fell in the sixth round but got right back up. Brock landed a few more body blows and Klitschko returned the favor with a few good uppercuts before pounding on top of Brocks head with an odd looking punch.
When Klitschko suffered the cut over the eye, everyone ringside was waiting at the edge of their seats for the referee to make a call. However, the referee said that the cut was from an accidental head, but the tension was still there, nevertheless. The last time Klitschko suffered a cut from a head butt was in his fight against DaVarryl Williamson and the fight was stopped because of it. Clearly, we all wanted to see the fight continue to a victory. There was talk ringside of Brock bringing DaVarryl Williamson into his training camp as a sparring partner for some inside tips on how to stop the big man.
In the 7th round, the crowd must have known the fight was at it’s high point, as they started chanting “U.S.A.” as the fighters stepped to the middle of the ring. Brock continued to work on Klitschko’s body, hoping to break the giant down, but it backfired. Klitschko hit Brock with a few jabs followed by three powerful left-right cominations that sent Brock face first into the canvas. Brock beat the count but the referee stopped the fight when he stumbled to his feet with a disorientated look on his face.
Klitschko praised Brock after the fight, saying, “Brock is the best heavyweight right now, even if he doesn’t hold the title.” He knew that it was his left right hook that prevailed and won him the fight and he was thankful for the victory because part of the proceeds will go to schools built in Africa. Wladimur further added that he is willing to fight anyone who holds a title and doesn’t seem to fear anyone in the boxing game right now.
From the looks of it, Wladimir no longer has the myth of the glass jaw holding him back, because he looks stronger than ever and ready to fight anybody.