Boxing Preview Analysis: Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov

Saturday night sees a rare heavyweight unification matchup when the Ukraine’s IBF Champion Wladimir Klitschko, 49-3 (44), meets Russian WBO Champion Sultan Ibragimov, 22-0 (17), at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Klitschko, a pro now for 12 years, is widely recognised as the best of the bunch at heavyweight and goes into Saturday’s bout as a healthy favourite. With only three defeats in 52 bouts, Klitschko seems to have recovered well from his crushing defeats against Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. Certainly against big punching Samuel Peter in September, 2005, in an elimination bout, the giant Ukrainian showed grit, character and heart.

Saturday night sees the fourth defence of his portion of the heavyweight crown, having seen off Ray Austin, Calvin Brock and Lamon Brewster, the latter being a big revenge win.

An undefeated fighter is a tough man to beat and in Ibragimov we have an undefeated WBO Champion. With 22 wins, the Russian has had less than half the fights of his IBF counterpart but has the nightmare style. He’s a southpaw!

After drawing in an IBF title eliminator in July 2006 against Ray Austin, Ibragimov rebounded by taking the WBO title from the musclebound yet fragile champion Shannon Briggs in June last year on points. His one defence was also a points win over veteran Evander Holyfield in October.

In a division much criticised at the moment, this is a welcome step in the right direction on the way to hopefully finding a unified champion. This is in fact the first heavyweight unification fight this decade.

Klitschko for me is the best of the bunch and having exacted revenge in his last bout against Brewster, will enter the Madison Square Garden ring in great confidence. General opinion is also that he’s in the best condition of his career.

Ibragimov is game and is a southpaw, but I feel that Wlad will be holding another belt Saturday night after a late rounds stoppage.

Next stop? Hopefully another unification match against the winner of Samuel Peter and Oleg Maskaev.