Clarifying Klitschko
by
Buster Paris
4/20 - It seems my last article regarding Wladimir Klitschko has stirred up a bit of controversy and as always I welcome and appreciate any dialog regarding anything I’ve written – so thanks for writing in and please continue to do so.
Here’s a portion of a note I received regarding the article: [full article]
“The reason Wlad got beat up by Sanders (is) because Wlad didn't prepare for the fight. And Sanders is the strongest puncher there is!!! Wlad was never
Ko'd by Sanders, just TKO(d), he got up after each of Sanders' strongest
punches!!! It(s) just Wlad's corner decided to quit, because Wlad could not
do anything to Sanders!!
Lots of people want to dissect Wlad for (his) loss over Sanders!!! But how
many of them actually know anything about (the) Klitschkos???????? So how
'bout you write why Wlad lost to Sanders????
First let me say that in researching my article about Wladimir I actually developed a respect and admiration of him as a fighter.
He has fought some really good fights against some really good opponents - I had him pegged all wrong.
As for the Sanders fight specifically - I think it's a completely unacceptable excuse to say that he didn't train for the fight. It's his job to train for fights and if he didn’t prepare or train then he got what he deserved, he got walloped by “The Sniper” Sanders - he got his butt kicked.
You are right about Corrie Sanders being one hell of a puncher. 30 of his 40 wins are thanks to that big punching power the South African Southpaw posses, but he should not have been a match for Dr. Steelhammer. This bout was supposed to be a cakewalk for Wlad – and his losing so incredibly poorly rightfully raised questions about Wladimir as a fighter. You’re right on that Klitschko couldn’t do anything against Sanders, but that’s not a good thing, it supports the fact that Wladimir fought and performed dreadfully.
Look at the way Vitali handled Corrie, he had a much easier time of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying Sanders can’t fight and if you saw the Vitali fight you’d know that an anvil dropped on Corrie’s head just might slow him down for a second – now THERE’S a guy that can take a punch.
Wladimir lost to Sanders because he wasn't prepared – sorry, not a good reason for someone whose supposed to be so high caliber - it should have been a much easier fight - it should have been a win.
Wladimir should have had no problem with Sanders - he lost to what was supposed to be a lesser opponent, was overwhelmed and out fought by a theoretically lesser quality fighter and I'm not sure at this point if Wlad is simply a few fights (losses) away from his career being over.
Again - I've recently learned that Wladimir is (or was) a great fighter - that he deserves all the accolades that he's gotten -
I hope this clears things up - and I really appreciate your writing in. Thanks
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