Saddoboxing.com Writers Break Down Klitschko-Williams.

The facts about this fight are not entirely thrilling to behold. Vitali Klitschko is the WBC heavyweight champion who acquired the title by beating an old and unfit version of Corrie Sanders while Danny Williams was not even on the heavyweight radar until he knocked out an old and debilitated version of Mike Tyson. So why does this fight still fit the bill as the legitimate heavyweight championship fight? Entertainment value factors heavily into the equation here and the potential of these two huge heavyweights with contrasting styles and heavy hands going at it is enough to make boxing fans salivate, especially in the wake of Don King’s hardly conclusive heavyweight showcase in November. The past is the past and now is the time for legacies to be forged, a time for beginnings as these heavyweights collide. Will Klitschko’s distraction by the Ukrainian government controversies serve to hinder him or will they fuel his performance? Can Williams harness his apparently heroic training efforts into a title winning effort and silence the many doubters that plagued his career in the British domestic scene? Questions await answers and the world will be watching on December the eleventh to see if a champion can survive or if the hunger of a challenger will overwhelm him. Read on as the saddoboxing.com scribes offer their view of Klitschko versus Williams and the clash for the WBO light welterweight title between champion Miguel Cotto and challenger Randall Bailey.

Greig Johnston: Danny Williams shocked the world with his KO of Mike Tyson, but in reality Tyson was well past his best and the victory may have done him more harm than good, inflating his confidence beyond his means. He’ll find this out when tackling Vitali Klitschko. Klitschko is bigger and stronger than Tyson and, in spite of his awkward European style and balance, I think that he’ll have the measure of Williams. Look for Klitschko to be workmanlike in breaking Williams down, similar to the Corrie Sanders fight. Although he will have a few shaky moments, Vitali will be comfortably ahead on all three cards when the referee saves Williams in round seven.

Lee Bellfield: Klitschko-Williams-This time last year there was no chance of this fight taking place. Big chance for Danny. Confidence must surely be on a massive high after his upset win over Tyson. Klitschko has already said in the build up that his preparations have been distracted by events in his homeland. Danny will have to be in the same condition physically and more important mentally to be in with a shot in this fight. Anything else and Klitschko takes him. I’m gonna go out on a limb and predict that Williams will be in the best shape of his life for this one and will outwork and outpoint Klitschko to win a unanimous decision. It’s too big a chance. One thing’s for sure it won’t be easy.

Cotto-Bailey-Cotto’s on a roll at the moment and looks potentially the best of the lot at 140-pounds. Cotto will be looking for bigger things in 2005 and after coming off a cracking win over Pinto, he will want to keep moving forward. Too much of the future rides on this one. Cotto by methodical mid-rounds stoppage.

Saddo: I was always of the view that Tyson would have knocked Danny out if his leg didn’t give up in the first round and thus Williams never really felt the force of a true Tyson shot because he couldn’t plant his fight into the shots after that. So for me, Vitali is a strong favorite to knockout Williams and early in my opinion. Saying that, Williams will come into this fight with great confidence and the betting link on this page is giving +300 for a Williams win but don’t be drawn in as this fight will end in one result only, an early KO win for Klitschko ((if his leg holds out))

As for Cotto Vs Bailey, Cotto should win by KO around the fourth round of a one sided fight.

Jim Cawkwell:Williams was not given anything remotely resembling a chance to beat Mike Tyson and I don’t buy into the fact that Tyson was completely debilitated by his knee injury. Sure, the nature of the injury is bad and needed intensive treatment but his mindset in the fight and adrenaline was more than enough to carry him through and he was still effective. Fundamentally, Tyson implodes when he gets hit back and Williams abandoned his boxing and went toe-to-toe and deservedly won the fight; Tyson could have gotten up but he wanted none of what Williams was dishing out, he wants no more of boxing period. Stylistically this fight could not be harder for Williams and it will take a performance of a lifetime for him to dethrone Klitschko. But if ever Danny Williams was capable of that performance the time is now. Williams has trained right, lived right and is being treated like a star and I think that against Klitschko, he will fight like one.

Klitschko on the other hand has not overly impressed, he has needed the disadvantage of others to look impressive. Lewis took him at two weeks notice, Lennox was out of shape and unprepared for that style and Klitschko still lost the fight. Then Klitschko bombed out Kirk Johnson, but Johnson looked like he’d not trained a day in his life, showing dreadful conditioning and no belief, it was a cakewalk for Klitschko. Again, Klitschko was lucky with Corrie Sanders who did not train properly to fight him and came in very much overweight. Even so, Klitschko struggled to cope with Sanders, was rocked several times and bloodied and never managed to put Sanders down or out. Williams has no distractions, nothing but the desire to become the world champion in his heart whereas you wonder if Klitschko is truly focused on what is in front of him. I think Williams might just stop Klitschko by the later rounds.

Miguel Cotto is a league apart from most other fighters in his weight class and there is some serious talent surrounding him. There are some chinks in his armor but it would take a performance far more outstanding than anything that Bailey is perhaps capable of producing. I was interested to see Cotto struggling with Lovemore N’dou in a long distance fight when he was losing rounds and being hit a lot, that does not strike me as a problem with stamina for Cotto but mainly a lesson in pacing himself. If Bailey can do anything it’s that he can really whack and that dynamite in his fists might be what draws something interesting from this fight. I don’t recall seeing Cotto get really hurt by anyone so if Bailey can tag him it will be most interesting to note how Cotto responds. In any event, I think that Cotto does everything far too well and should dispose of Bailey around the halfway mark.

Joseph de Beauchamp: Klitschko-Williams: Klitschko wins by KO by the tenth round. The distractions with Ukrainian friends, and his brother recently over there, will not affect his top shape conditioning. He promises the only blood will be in the ring, and not in the state of Ukraine. He and his brother are the first PhD’s to win in the sport, in all divisions. He is not taking Danny Williams lightly, and knows Williams’ skill and demeanor. Klitschko wants to show the world that Ukraine is a major country, and plans driving this home with fists and fury on the eleventh.

Cotto-Bailey: Cotto wins a KO by the seventh round. Cotto seems to be the best ranked fighter in the 140-pound division. He has a high KO rate and no losses. He will body attack against Bailey. Watch for a left hook to the body by the fifth round. Bailey will not recover from this. Bailey and Cotto both have very high KO ratios, however, the rising younger Cotto will wear out the older fighter and finish him off in the rib cage.

Ben Lynch: Klitschko vs. Williams-It’s one of those fights where anything can and will happen. The only thing that will surprise me is if this fight goes the distance. I honestly think that Klitschko is underestimating Williams and his mind has been on the politics of his home country more than it has been on the fight. For Danny Williams this is a dream come true, after slugging it out with Mike Tyson he now gets a shot at the gold many believe he deserved a long time ago. For me when Danny stepped in the ring with Iron Mike he won a much bigger battle than we saw on TV. Yeah he beat the “baddest man on the planet,” but more importantly, he beat all the demons in his head. Danny has trained hard for this, he knows he’ll only get one shot at it. My head says Klitschko, my heart says Williams, and I’m behind our Dan all the way. Williams KO in round eight.

Cotto vs. Bailey. As most know, I have mixed feelings on Miguel Cotto. He has shown he has great technical boxing talent, but it is hard to judge just how great that talent is when looking at the opposition he has faced, and I highly doubt that Cotto will show us anything new in this fight. Bailey is very experienced but his best days are behind him, and I don’t think he has anything in his game that will give Cotto any trouble or anything new to think about. Cotto will win by KO in the mid rounds and people will rave about his greatness. Boxing fans should remember though, great fighters didn’t go down in history by winning lesser world titles against second rate fighters and then defending against sub standard opposition. Cotto KO in round seven.

Jim Amato: Vitali should be victorious. Maybe Danny Wiliams will spring an upset. ANYTHING can happen when two big heavyweights get together. Based on what Williams showed even in victory over Tyson did not impress me. Tyson was kicking his butt up until Mike’s knee gave out. Williams DID NOT deserve this crack at the title based on his past record or his win over an aging Tyson. If Vitali is on his game I see no reason for him not to make a successful defense of his heavyweight crown. Then let’s get into a possible unification of the title. I propose a John Ruiz-Chris Byrd, WBA-IBF pairing. Then match WBC champion Vitali Klitschko with WBO claimant Lamon Brewster. Then let the winners fight each other for the unified title. Then if James Toney is still around holding IBA title, let the unified winner meet him to clear up any disputes. Oh what a wonderful world it could be. ONE heavyweight champion!

Will It Be Cotto By KO? On the undercard of the Vitali Klitschko-Danny Williams “title” fight, super prospect Miguel Cotto will meet former titleholder Randall Bailey. The best I can say is that Bailey should be afforded a puncher’s chance. This Cotto kid is the real thing. There should be some interesting fireworks early on but from what I’ve seen of Cotto in the past, I can’t see Bailey lasting five rounds.

Curtis McCormick: Klitschko-Williams-I see this fight shaping up with Williams trying to draw Klitschko into a slugfest but I don’t think the Ukrainian will participate. I think Vitali will keep Danny at a distance and try to break his spirit by catching him with the long right before clinching him on the inside and physically manhandling him by throwing Williams to the canvas and into the ropes etc. When Williams is sufficiently worn down, say by the seventh or eighth rounds, I think we’ll see the slugfest at that point. I personally would like to see Danny win this fight and if he is to have success in this one it will be from working behind his excellent jab while getting on the inside to land short punches to the much taller champion. Unfortunately, I don’t see him as being able to mount a disciplined and compact assault on the inside against Klitschko, who is very awkward and uses his height to great advantage. Klitschko WTKO9.

Cotto-Bailey: Bailey can really punch but that only matters if his opponent stands right in front of him. Someone who can move, give angles and exploit Bailey’s heavy-footedness will always give him trouble as Randall has difficulty mounting a cohesive offense against such an opponent. Cotto should be able to do all of the above against Bailey and avoid the bombs. We may get to find out just what kind of chin Miguel has and if Bailey can get Cotto backing up, as Lovemore N’Dou was able to do, we may see a close fight. Ultimately, I see Cotto as having too much skill and composure to lose. It may go the distance but I don’t think so. Cotto WTKO4.

James MacDonald: Klitschko will knock out Williams in round seven. Cotto will stop Bailey in six.

Katrina Walters: I strongly feel, and I may be wrong, but I feel that Klitschko is gonna take out Danny Williams. Even though the Klitschko’s have been known to have glass chins, and really can’t take a decent punch, I really believe that Danny is gonna lose tonight, or at least I hope. I would like the heavyweight shuffle to stay the same, for now, no new faces, and plus Williams’ arrogance kind of stinks, and too, the whole issue of his purse he’s collecting tonight, so much nonsense with him already. I hope the distractions from Klitschko’s homeland do not play a part in his performance.

If you would like to write for saddoboxing.com, contact Jim Cawkwell at jimcawkwell@yahoo.co.uk