TalkingBoxing Articles
Sweet Science and Theories of The Chin
MON August 1, BUSTER PARIS - We’re going to play a little game. Let’s hop in my time machine and go to October 1st 2005. I’m going to tell you two headlines and a quick story for each and you’ll tell me which one is more likely to be true and which one is more likely to be false, which one is more likely to happen and which one is not.
Headline One: George Foreman, Manny Pacquiao – The Aftermath
The world was stunned when on August 15th 2005 “Big” George Foreman announced his latest comeback and what made this even more shocking was that George was coming back at a 130 pounds and taking on Manny Pacquiao once Hector Velazquez dropped out of their September 10th 2005 fight.
The 56-year-old Foreman looked to be in great condition, but many were worried about his health having lost more weight than Pacquiao has ever weighed in his entire life – soaking wet, fully clothed, pockets full of rocks…
Headline Two: Wladimir Klitschko – “Mentón de Piedra” (Chin of Stone)
Never have I seen a fighter take so much punishment from such a strong and heavy-handed fighter. Samuel Peter has knocked out 21 of the 24 opponents he’s fought. He is one of the most powerful punchers in the sport today and yet he simply could not even slow down the relentless storm that was Wladimir Klitschko.
Wladimir brazenly stood in the center of the ring and much like Ricardo Mayorga dropped his arms to his sides and frantically pleaded with Peter to hit him, and boy did Peter comply…
Results: OK – it’s a trick – both headlines are impossible.
Whenever I write about Wlad I get a lot of angry emails so let me say upfront that I mean no disrespect and no malice to Wladimir, but here’s the thing that keeps getting me in trouble – I don’t think he has the ability to take a punch anymore. I’m not convinced of his chin – something has changed for him after his fantastic 2002 victory over Jameel “Big Time” McCline.
My theory is that Dr. Steelhammer (PhD.) cannot take a punch anymore.
“Well Buster what about the Jameel McCline fight?”
Yes, McCline is a huge puncher and Wladimir took it, but I’m talking about each time after Jameel – the fact of the matter is that when he faces truly strong punchers he gets knocked out:
Corrie Sanders – gigantic puncher and a Southpaw - surprised everyone and put Wlad to the canvas twice in the first round and twice in the 2nd and that was all she wrote – 2nd round TKO.
Lamon Brewster – colossal puncher - knocked him out in the 5th round – (TKO win for Brewster)
I think that’s pretty good evidence to support my working hypothesis – Wlad can’t take the big punch anymore.
“Well – what about his last fight against Eliseo Castillo, he won and made a pretty good showing”
Yup – he won via a 4th round TKO, but it was a cakewalk. HBO’s Larry Merchant summed it up brilliantly when he said that Castillo used his arms more when he was paddling away from Cuba.
There are two big questions casting too big a shadow over Wladimir – can he take a punch and can he handle a higher caliber of fighter.
When Emanuel Steward was asked if Klitschko is ready for the elites he said that Wladimir has pretty much always been ready for the elites. It just so happened that he had 2 bad fights in such close proximity of each other, nothing more than that.
Makes perfect sense, but there’s something missing – I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s an essential ingredient missing from – and in – Klitschko.
Peter isn’t a high caliber fighter and by that I mean his boxing skills aren’t as polished as Klitschko’s or the other elite Heavyweights like Chris Byrd or James Toney so on September 24th 2005 one question will remain unanswered, but we’ll definitely know if Wlad can take a punch because Samuel Peter may very well have the hardest punch of today’s Heavyweights.
At this point I’d have to say that there’s no way Klitschko is making it past 6 or 7 rounds – if even that many.
Buster Paris can be reached at: bparis@talkingboxing.com - and always enjoys receiving your thoughts, comments and questions.
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