This Saturday the 23rd of February heralds a fight which will crown a unified heavyweight Champ and finally a man with a legitimate claim to the throne of best heavyweight in boxing today.
The origins of both fighters has been commented on before, as neither are from the traditional heavyweight production line of the United States, however if one looks beyond that, they will greet this fight with open arms as we will finally gain some clarity as to who the Top Dog is, in this mess of a division.

Wladmir Klitschko of course is the front runner. Long overshadowed by the achievements of his older brother Vitali, it seemed for a length of time that Wlad was going to be scratched down as merely second best in his own family. However, with grit determination and the exemplary training of Emmanuel Steward Wladmir has worked himself into a position where he may well be the man to guide the Heavyweights out of the swamp that engulfed it as a result of Lennox Lewis' retirement and Vitali's injury induced inactivity. The tall powerful Ukrainian has impressed the boxing world lately, with powerful and intelligent showings. Supplemaentary to such displays, he also demonstrated great heart in defeating the aggresive Sam Peter despite having to search his soul for inspiration to climb of the canvas on three occassions.

Klitschko is not infallible however, defeats at the hands of Ross Purrity, Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster still linger in the minds of the attentive boxing fan. It is not the amount of losses or even the names behind his defeats, but the nature of his falls from grace which bother the fan. Klitschko although showing great chin against Peter has been knocked out or stopped in all three of his losses.

This is where Sultan Ibragimov arrives. Having picked up an alpahbet Title against the less than admirable Shannon Briggs he defeated the once-great Evander Holyfield in his last outing. The solitary blemish on his record is a draw with Ray Austin in July 2006. The 6'2" Southpaw is a workman in the ring not gifted with any remarkable power or gifted with and speciality in speed of hand or foot, and is also known to drop his workrate in accordance to the demands of the fight. Against Briggs, he did little or nothing in one of the most extraordinarily boring fights on record.
Nonetheless, he must be credited for his ambition and desire in taking this fight. Win or lose, the unification of the Heayweight division was initiated by the bravery of Sultan Ibragimov.

It is difficult to predict how the fight will turn out. One presumes that the Southpaw stance of Ibragimove will be exploited by the straight right that Klitschko has honed so well. Ibragimov may be game enough to grit it out for the duration of twelve rounds but I envision Wladmir extending his undefeated record from 49-3-0 to 50-3-0 with 45 KO's.

Perhaps of more apeal to the hardcore boxing fan, this card boasts a more than adequate undercard, with both New York based Middleweights, Joe Green and John Duddy IN action.

It is unfortunate that these two are not entering into hostilities with one another, but it is pleasing to have them both on the card. In the penultimate fight, Joe Green takes on veteran Francisco Antonio Mora. Green own record of 17-0-0 is dwarfed by Mora's 52-12-0, but one suspects that Green will see this battle through and advance further.

Ireland's John Duddy is opposed by Walid Smichet. This fight has been discussed for a while and although it is good to see Duddy remaining active, one wonders how this fight will prepare him for his proposed title shot against the formidable Kelly Pavlik later this year.

The card alsopresents us with two nice prospects. Middleweight Peter Quillin is turning heads with a 16 fight Undefeated record, sporting 13 knockouts. This young boxer has been impressive at these teething stages and hashandled every opponent quite well whilst using an attractive boxing style.

Ronny Vargas is also on show on Saturday. Described as an "Amateur Stand out" by SaddoBoxing's own Jim Everett in his coverage of Maddaloe vs Barrett which had Vargas' 4th pro fight on the undercard, he has evolved reasonably well into the pro ranks, integrating himself into the system with four knockouts out of his five wins.


I feel it is no coincedence such an attractive undercard has been attached to a Heavyweight main event. The presence of Duddy and Green alone will draw big numbers as each has previously sold out Madison Square Graden.
I feel this is a true indication of Heavyweight boxing. They have neglected their fans with mismatches, easy defences and multiple titles for so long that the audience has lost interest in thismoney fuelled pantomine.
The abuse of power by past "Champions" makes life extremely difficult for the young Heavyweights of Today, honestly attempting to become the Undisputed Champion.