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Last night at New York’s hallowed Madison Square Garden, IBF Heavyweight Champ Wladimir Klitschko put in a cautious performance but still managed to completely outclass WBO beltholder Sultan Ibragimov over twelve rounds in the first heavyweight unification contest in nine years.
Possessing every possible physical advantage in this pairing, the IBF boss held his quick-footed southpaw opponent at the perfect distance by employing a long and damaging left jab along with the threat of his right hand.
Ibragimov spent most of the fight waiting in trepidation for that right hand, which Klitschko didn’t throw until the fifth frame and then sparingly afterward, and stayed largely on the outside where he was there to be hit by the much taller “Dr. Steelhammer” but was too far away to hit Klitschko back.
Much of Ibragimov’s offense came in the form of quick counters, many to the body, but almost none managed to land with any significance with the exception of the sixth round when the Russian managed to score with a few good right hooks and roundhouse lefts as Klitschko took what looked like a breather.
Klitschko began to step it up a bit in the seventh and began to find range with the right hand when he threw it. If nothing else, Ibragimov showed a superb chin as Klitschko nailed him flush with hard right hands that snapped back the head of the WBO titlist at times.
When Ibragimov did come forward to try and catch the Ukrainian giant with looping shots, Klitschko used his height well as he simply threw it quickly in reverse and as Ibragimov rarely pursued past that point, the strategy worked.
Klitschko did seem to try and KO his rival over the last couple of rounds but as he was telegraphing big right hands behind the jab, Ibragimov generally saw those coming and ducked out of the way.
There was finally a little bit of urgency in the 12th as Ibragimov tried to close distance and make it a fight but it more often than not resulted in the two men getting tangled up rather than any effective aggression.
The crowd in attendance had been booing for most of the bout and found very little to like during the twelve rounds, which Klitschko was declared to have won by scores of 119-110, 118-110 and 117-11.
Wladimir Klitschko adds the WBO title to his IBF belt and improves to 50-3 (44). Afterward, the 31 year old resident of Kiev indicated a desire to continue to fight whoever was put in front of him rather than name any opponents who he would like to face in the near future.
Sultan Ibragimov suffers his first loss and sees his record to 22-1-1 (17).
The undercard featured a lot of action with middleweight Joe Green, 18-0 (13), stopping veteran Francisco Antonio Mora, 52-13 (35), in the tenth round for the NABA and WBO NABO titles.
Much-hyped Irish middleweight John Duddy, 24-0 (17), kept his undefeated record but was roughed up a great deal by Montreal based Tunisian Walid Smichet, 17-4-3 (13), enroute to posting a controversial majority decision, 98-92 (twice) and 95-95, finishing the fight bruised and bloodied.
Unbeaten cruiserweight Johnathon Banks, 19-0 (14), destroyed faded former IBF champ Imamu Mayfield, 25-9-2 (18), in the first while Chicago middleweight slugger Peter Quillin, 17-0 (14), stayed perfect by knocking out Thomas Brown, 11-4-1 (7), in two.
