Wolfgramm still worth watching




August 12, 2001 – By Anthony Evans: Entertaining Tongan heavyweight Paea Wolfgramm goes into tonight’s televised clash with Corey Sanders at a crossroads in his career. The 1996 Olympic super-heavyweight bronze medallist can still be a player in boxing’s beleaguered flagship division, but he cannot afford to slip up in Elgin, Illinois.

Wolfgramm, a personable 300 pounder from Varau Island, has already lost three of his 20 professional bouts (scoring 15 stoppages). His unbeaten run ended in fight number 15 when journeyman Marion Wilson beat him over six rounds, but a impressive win over oft-beaten former WBO challenger and amateur super-star Jorge Luis Gonzalez undid most of the damage to his name.

Part of the Tongan’s charm at the Olympics was that, in addition to being a relative unknown, he was quite cuddly in that overweight kinda way. The sight of the 6ft 3ins 330lbs tank whaling away and sparking the world’s best athletes was one of the highlights of the 1996 tournament. “What on Earth is the world coming to when these fat kids turn up and beat the hell out of these big muscley kids?” laughed one near hysterical commentator.

Yet all that bulk was not exactly conducive for going 10 professional rounds, so Wolfgramm lost an astonishing 67lbs pounds in two years.

However, even though he weighed a near-career low of 270lbs in March 2000 when he tried to get revenge on the man who eliminated him in the Atlanta semi-finals, current WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko. However, the giant Ukrainian blasted Wolfgramm inside a single round, thus ending his pretensions of winning the world heavyweight title.

He then lost a 12 rounder to fringe contender Eliecer Castillo last October.

That is not to say that the Tongan has nothing to offer the sport. He is usually in exciting fights and last time out his off the canvas war with fringe contender Jimmy Thunder was hugely entertaining, as would be a collision with fellow Pacific heavyweight, David Tua.

But first Wolfgramm must get through Sanders, who gave an in-form Andrew Golota problems a few years back. The pair weighed in two pounds heavier than Sanders at 292lbs, which does seem his most effective weight. A win would keep him in the mix for a bout with a major name; just look who Mike Tyson is fighting next month.