Wladmir Klitschko VS. Sultan Ibragimov & Undercard

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.

Well this is a huge card, I am disappointed that HBO won't be showing more of this card...but then again it's on regular HBO so that's cool.


Sultan Ibragimov seems to me to be an easy style for Wladimir to deal with. Of course Wlad is downplaying this and saying Sultan's style is difficult....I just don't see it. Sultan has more chin and stamina issues than Wladimir right now and the way Wlad fought Brewster I just don't see the threat from Sultan unless he lands something like this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANy-vuD2HZ0


But #1 that was a wild shot and #2 Ray Austin got back up which means it wasn't hard enough to KO big Ray.

Of course I think Greene, Duddy, and Quillin will win by KO but I figure realistically 2/3rds of that group will go the distance because that's the way it usually works out

Good breakdown. I think Ibragimov's movement will cause problems for Wladimir. The big right Sultan will want to avoid, but I'm sure he'll have some idea of how to avod it, after all southpaw's face the orthodox right hand every single day in training, hopefully Sultan will keep his concentration and movement going the full twelve since Wlad has the power to floor him at anytime.

Wlad never had any problems with Chris Byrd's movement...why would Sultan's movement (mainly FORWARD) bother Wlad???

I think the strategy for Wladimir in this fight is as follows:

Sultan is a "power punching" southpaw, no one can figure how hard he really hits looking at his record, he TKO's Lance Whittaker and draws with Ray Austin....it's erratic. But in any case you err on the side of caution and therefore use the jab a little less as Sultan will try to throw the left cross over it. So utilize the right cross and the left hook....the left hook is a good punch to throw against southpaws especially ones that are easy to hit like Sultan.If you throw any combinations end with the hook or the jab to create distance and don't back straight up....that's what got Austin in trouble.

Sultan is a solid heavyweight but he's not on Wladimir's level (granted Brewster and Sanders weren't either but still)...Sultan is really going to have to go Joe Frazier on Wlad to win, he needs to go to the body and stay close to Wlad so that he can't get extension and power on his punches...he needs to pressure Wlad and hope that stamina is still an issue for him.

Lyle I think you're right. I don't no If I alluded to it in my initial post, but I feel Klitschko's (exceptional) straight right will be perfect for negating any adavntage Ibragimov's Southpaw stance.

Furthermore, I used to admire Ibragimov's activity, but he put in a lazy performance against Briggs so I can't see him troubling Wladmir.

I doubt Suktan will just move forward through this fight, I see him circling to his own right away from klitschko's.

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Originally Posted by Bomp

I doubt Suktan will just move forward through this fight, I see him circling to his own right away from klitschko's.

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He didn't move very well vs other big fighters and those guys had NOTHING on Wladimir's power!

See Sultan:

vs Ray Austin
vs Shannon Briggs
vs Lance Whittaker

Those guys still hit Sultan and it's only going to take a few from Wlad to slow Sultan down...and hell the jab might do that alone

Sultans needs lots of waist movement in order to stay clear from any big shot. He doesn't have it so I don't see this fight ending well for him.

The only shot Ibragimov has in this fight is to get close and shoot uppercuts and wide right hooks.If he tries to box Klitschko it will be ahort night.I say a K.O. in the sixth for Wlad.

I may be the only guy picking Ibragimov in this fight(besides Sal), I think his speed is better than Wlad and if he can weather the first 5-6 round w/o catching a big right he should be in good position. Wlad has been real one dimensional lately and with him relying on the jab alot lately, the southpaw matchup comes into play with Sultan being able to drop his own lefts over the jab. I think this fight is gonna turn into a slugfest, with Sultan stopping Wlad.

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Originally Posted by No Contest

I may be the only guy picking Ibragimov in this fight(besides Sal), I think his speed is better than Wlad and if he can weather the first 5-6 round w/o catching a big right he should be in good position. Wlad has been real one dimensional lately and with him relying on the jab alot lately, the southpaw matchup comes into play with Sultan being able to drop his own rights over the jab. I think this fight is gonna turn into a slugfest, with Sultan stopping Wlad.

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He hasn't been "relying" on his jab, he's been using it to set up other punches...go ask Lamon Brewster how that felt though.

Wlad uses the jab to set up his other punches and he hooks off it....it's only right to use that punch, it's the best jab in ALL OF BOXING!

Ask Ray Austin and Chris Byrd if Wlad relied on the jab vs them!

Sultan's hands aren't faster than Wlad's either I don't know what makes you think that though, other than he has shorter arms.

Ray Austin knocked down Sultan on a left hook off of his jab....that FACT doesn't bode well for Sultan in this upcoming fight

He only threw jabs in the Ray Austin fight until he finally threw a couple left hooks....the Brewster fight was just the jab and 1 2 all night, hey it worked but a better boxer has answers for that. He is only effective at range, his inside game is lacking if Sultan can solve the jab problem getting inside he should do alot better in close range IMO.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by No Contest

He only threw jabs in the Ray Austin fight until he finally threw a couple left hooks....the Brewster fight was just the jab and 1 2 all night, hey it worked but a better boxer has answers for that. He is only effective at range, his inside game is lacking if Sultan can solve the jab problem getting inside he should do alot better in close range IMO.

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....well good luck to him if he's trying to solve the jab because there is a FULL arsenal of punches behind it.....watch for the hook and the uppercut in this match

Quote:

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Originally Posted by No Contest

He only threw jabs in the Ray Austin fight until he finally threw a couple left hooks....the Brewster fight was just the jab and 1 2 all night, hey it worked but a better boxer has answers for that. He is only effective at range, his inside game is lacking if Sultan can solve the jab problem getting inside he should do alot better in close range IMO.

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What's wrong with that? It's Wlads job to get the other guy to fight his fight, and if he can control the fight with his jab until he can land a big hook or straight right, well, that's HW boxing. Yeah, Brewster was a 1-2 fest, but as I recall, he KO'd Austin with a left hook. Sounds like power in both hands to to me.

.....he STOPPED Brewster with pretty much only a jab....that's a weapon most guys would use if they had anything close to it.

And his hook is deadly! He just doesn't use it much....he hooks off the jab like no one else I have seen.

I"ll also throw in that Wlad has horrible movement his upper body is as stiff as a board, and he is very upright, Sultan will use angles to get inside, its gonna be an interesting fight, you guys are completely sold on Wlad but I'm not. He has been lucky lately not catching many big shots, but think of the Sam Peter fight, but there one difference Sultan has more options than Peters stale rinse repeat tactic that Wlad just nuetralized with the jab.

He's tall, he's got a great jab....it's not often that he HAS to move. His defense has improved though.