By James Slater: It’s fair to say that despite French challenger Jean Marc Mormeck’s best efforts at talking the December 10th fight up, fans in general are not too excited about heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko’s next fight.
Set for Dusseldorf a little over two months from now, the fight – seen by many as a terrible mismatch – will see “Dr. Steel Hammer” attempting to retain his titles for a an eleventh time. Most experts feel the 35-year-old will do so relatively easily and improve to 57-3(50). All that was missing from Wladimir’s dominant silencing of David Haye was a knockout: we will almost certainly see one in the Mormeck fight. But “The Marksman” feels it will be he who winds up scoring the KO. This despite the fact that the 39-year-old former cruiserweight ruler has not stopped a single opponent since making the move up to heavyweight.
“Wladimir has a glass chin that I will break,” Mormeck said with a straight face. “He can’t take a punch. I’ve longed for this chance. Unlike against David Haye, when I had him on the ground before losing (in their 2007 thriller), I will finish the job now. On December 11th I will come home to Paris with a suitcase full of championship belts.”
As respectful as ever, Klitschko referred to Mormeck’s experience, saying he will not underestimate his next challenger. Mormeck’s attempts at trash-talking (he surely doesn’t truly believe he has the needed firepower to trouble, let along stop, Wladimir!) will seem mild to the champion compared to the insults he had to listen to from Haye. Still, it may have annoyed Wladimir when he heard his next foe claim he has a glass jaw. Rest assured, if Wladimir is angry, he will make Mormeck pay on Dec. 10th.
The best we can really say about this fight is at least Wladimir is keeping himself busy. Mormeck, though, has not earned this shot. 36-4(22) and 3-0 with no KO’s as a heavyweight, the veteran barely scraped past Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov in his two most recent bouts. Showing no real power as a heavy, Mormeck may have been a fine cruiserweight – but that was a long time ago. Even as a 200-pounder Mormeck was no lethal-hitter.
The Haye fight, and the fact that he put “The Hayemaker” down in the clash, seems to give Mormeck confidence, however. But there is a big difference between putting a weight-drained Haye down and putting the best big man on the planet down.
Mormeck, knowing this is his last chance to earn big, will give it his best shot in December. This will not be enough to allow him to see the 7th-round though.