On Saturday afternoon at 4:45 PM in Hamburg, Germany, HBO will broadcast Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52KO) defending the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. Remember that thing? The title’s fall from grace has made it so the casual fight fan has no idea that this is even happening. So, why has the title become an afterthought? Who is this Kubrat Pulev character and does he have a chance? What in holy hell does Shannon Briggs have to do with this? Let’s talk heavyweight boxing for the first time in ages.
There are many reasons why the World Heavyweight Championship has become insignificant in the United States. One of those reasons is the lack of American contenders. Klitschko has only fought two Americans in the last six years (Tony Thompson and Eddie Chambers) and four Americans total (Lamon Brewster and Hasim Rahman are the others) in his decade as the champion. Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KO) has knocked out everyone he has fought and is the top up-and-coming American heavyweight, but you haven’t heard of him unless you’re a boxing fanatic because the American media has given up on the sport. Likewise, Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10KO) also remains anonymous. Klitschko has disposed of his less than stellar American opponents so easily most can’t recall who they were, if they ever knew in the first place. Without a legitimate American contender, the fans don’t care about the division.
Secondly, today’s best American athletes no longer choose boxing. Back in the golden age of the sport, America’s best athletes became boxers or baseball players. Today they choose football or basketball because it offers a free ride through college and the draft pulls them directly into the pros, immediately handing them millions of dollars. And they don’t take thousands of punches to the face. In boxing, like baseball, you still have to come up the hard way.
Finally, we now live in the era of the super-heavyweights. The average fighter in the division is closer to 250 lbs. than 200 lbs.; none of the all-time great heavyweights were that big. It’s like a different sport in which traditional heavyweight fighters are without a division, caught between the cruiserweights and super-heavies.
Klitschko’s style doesn’t help matters either. His fights are never very exciting and are often downright boring. He has turned off a lot of fans. He stays behind his jab and doesn’t take chances. He learned that lesson by getting knocked out twice in a little over a year by Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster back in 2003-2004. Since then he has won twenty straight fights and collected every relevant title belt by not going for the knockout. Instead he waits for his style to frustrate his opponent and they end up losing their composure and walking into his right hand.
Another tactic he loves to employ is a two-handed push. He simply shoves his opponents away and uses his 81” reach to keep them at bay. He also loves wrestling on the inside, tying up his rival and pushing down on the back of his neck to squeeze the breath out him much like Evander Holyfield once did. Furthermore, he utilizes the least exciting weapon in the history of the game – the hand punch. He pounds his fists downward hammer-style, punching his opponent’s hands and knocking down their guard. It has the same effect that Jack Dempsey’s shoulder punches had, it just looks sillier and is way less exciting.
Ultimately all that matters is wins and that’s all that Klitschko does. He just has such a boring way of going about it he has turned the boxing public apathetic. His last two fights are a great example of the problem. Thirteen months ago he fought Alexander Povetkin, an undefeated Russian thought to be his toughest challenger in years, if not ever. The fight was a farce and anyone who paid one cent to watch that dreck deserves a refund. The bout consisted of nothing but hand punches and clinches. I’ve seen more clean punches thrown into the air by babies at baptisms. I assume it resembled something, but not boxing. In his last match back in April, the ease with which he disposed of Alex Leapai was comical. Leapai landed ten punches. Ten. The TKO mercifully came in the fifth round after three knockdowns. It was as competitive as an infant zebra versus the top huntress of a pride of lions. And that’s the problem with Klitschko – he either annihilates his opponent, or employs tactics that turn the fight into a snooze-fest at the first sign of competition. To avoid these two pitfalls and defeat the champ a challenger must have equal reach, similar size, competent agility and foot-speed, and balls. Giant balls. Klitschko may be boring, but they don’t call him Dr. Steelhammer for nothing.
Enter Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KO). “The Cobra” hails from Sofia, Bulgaria, and stands 6’5”, only one inch shorter than the champ, who usually towers over his opponent. Pulev usually weighs a smidge over 250 lbs., which will give him a slight weight advantage. The Bulgarian’s reach is approximately 80”, and this is the key to the fight. The champ usually has a severe reach advantage. Klitschko has mastered the art of keeping his opponent at a distance so that he can land hard, clean punches while his adversary cannot reach him. To combat this, one needs a combination of agility, foot-speed and an equally long reach. Pulev’s arms are almost as long as Klitschko’s so whatever distance the champ keeps it will be to no advantage or disadvantage to either fighter. Pulev is also a former soccer player and has the ability to move around the ring better than most heavyweights.
Pulev has more experience than his twenty-fight record would suggest. He has defeated top heavyweights Alexander Ustinov, Alexander Dimitrenko, and Tony Thompson – and is almost universally ranked as the number one contender. He also has a lot less wear-and-tear on his 33-year-old body than usually seen in boxing. For comparison, Klitschko had 55 fights by the time he was 33 – and was knocked out three times. If Pulev can use his agility to dodge punches and throw them from odd angles, move quickly, get in and get out, and take Klitschko’s jab (which has knocked out many heavyweights) he has a real chance to dethrone the king. If not, Shannon Briggs will be screaming for attention again. Briggs has decided to make a comeback at 42 years old. The former paper champ made a sad spectacle of himself when he interrupted one of Klitschko’s training sessions to challenge him. “I’m the real champ”, he said perplexingly “I’ll knock Klitschko’s teeth out…Give me something to eat!” And that, my friends, is the state of the heavyweight division.
Article By: Anthony Schiano
