Vitali Klitschko – Fee-fi-fo-fum, The Giant Wins Another One!

Vitali KlitschkoBy Paul Strauss: This time he smelled the blood of a Mexican (not Englishman), and he ground his bones to make some bread at the Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA. This was no fairy tale, and Chris’ wife couldn’t save him. He just couldn’t climb the beanstalk.

As is so often the case fighters, prior to the actual fight, think things will go a certain way. In this case, Christobal Arreola thought that he could muster up enough pressure that he would present Vitali with something (a fast pace) that he hadn’t yet experienced. Well, it turned out that the only fairy tale was the Nightmare’s fight plan. There was no way he could sustain any kind of serious pressure on the giant.

Chris would attempt to walk down the giant, but the giant Dr. Ironfist didn’t cooperate or move in straight lines. He also didn’t throw punches in straight lines.. Chris thought he would be able to position his gloves tight to the sides of his face, and then push ahead until he was close enough to let go with a jab, double jab and looping right, plus a combination or two. He did manage to get through a few hard jabs, and one good short left hook. But, he kept on trying to “cock” the right before letting it go. That hesitation allowed Vitali to “smell the Englishman” (sic) and move out of range. He made Chris’ right looked more like a feint than a real punch.

All the time that Chris tried to walk down Vitali, he was running into punches……….all kinds of punches. Vitali proved to be very creative. He carried both hands very low, so it was hard for Chris to pick up the trajectory of the punches. He would throw straight jabs, and then hooks or looping punches. Then he would throw multiple jabs, and shoot through a good straight right hand, or turn it into an uppercut if Chris attempted to move in too close. In fact, the rights and lefts came from so many different angles, Chris couldn’t move his gloves around sufficiently fast to block them all. Plus, the fact that Vitali threw about 471 more punches than Chris, which meant Chris was preoccupied with defense.

Harold Lederman’s unofficial scorecard awarded Chris one round, and that was actually a gift. He did not control the action in any round. But, it was not because he wasn’t trying. At times he would mount a momentary attack, and seemed to be pushing Vitali back, but he just couldn’t sustain anything, and his right hand was rendered pretty much ineffective for the course of the fight.

By the middle rounds, Chris was starting to puff up a bit, and his nose started leaking a steady stream of claret. Undoubtedly that added to Chris’s fatigue and ability to get enough air and oxygen to recover between rounds. It was obvious there wasn’t going to be any five magic beans for Chris tonight, so after the tenth round referee Joe Schorle called a halt to the proceedings with agreement from Chris’ corner. The judges score cards read: Ken Mortia 99-91; Anek Hongtongkam 99-91 and Guido Cavelleri 100-89. Giant Dr. Ironfist and the beanstalk are still standing, and it doesn’t seem like there’s anyone on the horizon who can chop them down. Ho hum.