Originally Posted by
TysonBomb
Aim of this thread is to evaluate the opponents of Wladimir Klitschko, the unified heavyweight champion of the world.
Starting off with the three men that were able to beat him by KO - Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders, and Lamon Brewster.
Ross Puritty was a 6'3" 249 lb professional of 9 years by the time he fought Wladimir Klitschko, who was an undefeated Olympic gold medalist with an undefeated record of 24-0.
Puritty was in his early 30s at the time and had lost 3 of his last 4 fights, all of them through decisions. He lost to his last three to Chris Byrd, Larry Donald, and Corrie Sanders and won his most recent fight against Mark Hulstrom of Denmark via second round KO. He was a battle tested veteran with a record of 24-13-1 at the time.
Despite the 13 losses, he had only been KOed twice and was said to have a very good chin. He was used as a stepping stone to gain experience and move up in the rankings by the fighters mentioned above. He also suffered losses to other notable boxers, such as Hashim Rahman, Michael Grant, Kirk Johnson and others. He fought Wladimir when he was 24-0 at the time for a minor Int'l belt.
He was to be Wladimir's first real test. An experienced journeyman who had good size, good power, good durability but limited skills.
Wladimir started off well and seemed to tire on as the fight progressed. Puritty was relatively unhurt and maintained himself well, despite the fact that he didn't really mount an offense against Klitschko and was clearly being hit a lot. Wladimir expended a lot of energy over the course of the fight and wasn't able to effectively hurt Puritty, who stalked him and applied pressure.
It was Puritty's durability and resilience that allowed him stalk Wlad down and eventually break him down. His hooks seemed to visibly hurt Wlad, even though he was able to block a lot of them. As the fight entered the latter rounds Wladimir seemed to panic and started to throw even more punches at an increased output. He seemed to be shocked to see Puritty still standing and able to take all of this punishment. He threw everything he had at the man but Puritty with a heart of a lion and chin of stone took everything and didn't relent.
By round 9, Wladimir's output significantly decreased and he primarily through jabs. The "bounce" in his footwork that was there before, was leaving him. Puritty was starting to show more movement during this round and was actually slipping some of his punches. Towards the end of the round he let off an aggressive attack and bounced the young Wladimir around like a pinball, despite missing most of his shots. Wladimir ran backwards, with his arms flailing like a fish out of water and grabbed on in complete fear with his head lowered. It seemed like he was even hurting the Klitschko when his guard was up.
Round 10, lighting struck. Puritty was able to drop Wlad in the last minute of the round but the ref called it a no knockdown. Again Puritty came back and was able to score an "official" knockdown after battering him from pillar to post.
What caused those knockdowns and the TKO? Wladimir RUNNING in complete FEAR and Puritty's persistence and consistent pressure. Every shot hurt this man, even when his guard was up. Fight was over in round 11 with Wlad just taking a pounding. He wasn't that visibly tired, but his will was broken and his jaw had been cracked. Klitschko fans will claim that he lost this fight because of 2 reasons: inexperience and stamina. The former may be true, but he was 24 fights in and was a gold medalist. The later is not so true. Yes he was tired, but thats not why he lost. It was him tripping over himself trying to run away from Pruitty's attack and the failure of his chin to hold up. Mostly it was FEAR. He had thrown so many punches yet this man was still there. Puritty was a heavier man than he was and his stamina hadn't left.
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Wladimir Klitschko's opponents
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