10.03.07 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: In all, the excitement of Sultan Ibragimov’s stunning performance tonight, Wladimir Klitschko’s solid but expected beatdown of Ray Austin almost went unnoticed. Perhaps it was because the fight was mostly sleep inducing but its hard to fault the “RainMan” from engaging Wladimir from the get go.
The first round was a basic scouting session with neither fighter landing anything significant but the edge going to Klitschko based on a heartier aggression. In the second Klitschko adjusted and came forward a little more pushing Austin and almost stunning him with a single jab. The end came suddenly as Klitschko chased Austin down to the ropes, stepped to the side, and let loose with a single left hook that basically did the job right then and there. Were Austin able to fall down at that moment perhaps he would have had a chance to get up and clinch his way out of a jam, but unluckily for him rather then falling the top half of his body keeled over while his legs remained upright.
This almost Morrison like state allowed Klitschko the chance to land 3 more solid left hooks, and didn’t give poor Ray a chance to dodge any of them or for that matter fall over. As the fifth left hook was on its way into scoring position Austin finally went down face first and basically took a 10 count though he did for posterity get up at 9 even though there was no way in hell he would be allowed to continue.
Klitschko seemed angry at the post fight interview, at least angry for him that is, since Austin was his mandatory and not the first choice of opponent for the IBF strapholder.
All in all it was a solid performance but one nobody should have or was rightfully shocked by.
The thing about Wladimir Klitschko is that, while yes it is possible that he will get hurt or stopped again by a Sanders or Brewster type opponent, it makes no sense to predict this outcome. I noticed recently, as I am sure others have, a trend where in certain writers and analysts like to pick against Klitschko on the off chance he runs into that terrible opponent called “Klitschko confidence.” Yes while that is possible, it seems unintelligent to make this prediction if only based on the lightning factor, since as stated the lingering effects of the Sanders and Brewster losses will probably stay with him his entire career.
Neither do I find it fair to call Klitschko a coward for facing an overmatched opponent like Austin since as everybody knew and as Wlad stated Austin was forced on him. If Wladimir would have chosen to “run” from the IBF “Mandatory” ( I mean that in jest of course since Austin was undeserving of the spot) he would be called a coward by Austin’s promoters and Austin would get hype he, as apparent by this result, does not need.
Congratulations to Wladimir Klitschko on another solid win and hopefully a more salivating bout awaits us in the future.