KLITSCHKO HATERS MUST GIVE HIM PROPS!
Mannheim, Germany-Theres a plethora of Wladimir Klitschko detractors in the boxing world. I know, cause Im one of them. No, I used to be one of them! Watch the manner in which Klitschko all but shutout defending IBF champ Chris Byrd, and youll know why I am going through a Klitschko metamorphosis. With an uneventful opener, Wladimir went to work. In the second frame, Klitschko, now 46-3 with 41 whacks, set the tone of the fight with a solid right hand.
THE SOUNDS OF DOMINANCE WERE IN THE AIR!
In the third and fourth rounds, Klitschko began to hit Byrd as if he was a human nail, and his fists were hammers. Although he was game, Byrd was beginning to take a beating. In the fifth, Byrd, now 39-3, (20 KOs) found out the hard way that he cant absorb punishment like Lamon Brewster, who rallied to stop Klitschko two years ago. Downed by a well-thrown right hand in the fifth, the sand was certainly running out of Chris Byrds championship hourglass.
BOTH ARE HEAVYWEIGHTS, BUT BYRD WAS DWARFED!, Having watched Byrd since he was a 1992 165 lb. Olympian, it was clear that the now 35-year old from Flint, MI, and the 30-year old Ukrainian, were in different pugilistic stratospheres. Wlads landing of a picture perfect right in the fifth round put Byrd down hard. Getting to his feet, and possessing the look of being second best, Byrd fought on. The sixth round was just more of the same as Wlad went for the KO. It would come one round later, in the seventh, when Klitschko threw a vicious right hand that again knocked Byrd down.
THIS WAS WLADS BEST PERFORMANCE TO DATE!
Punching through his target, it was the best shot Wlad had ever thrown. As Byrd got up, his back to the TV camera, Byrd was busted wide open from the punch. Looking like a bladed wrestler, once referee Wayne Kelley saw the gory gash, he called it off. Official time was :51 seconds of the seventh round.
THEY ARE NOT COMING, THE RUSSIANS ARE HERE!
With Wlad the IBF guy, Giant Valuev WBA champ, and the WBO belt bearer being Serguei Lyakhovich, the Russians arent coming folks, theyre already here! Should Oleg Maskaev repeat his knockout effort vs. WBC champ Hasim Rahman, they will have all four of the heavyweight title trinkets.
Pedro Fernandez
Note: Mr. Fernandez is an award-winning writer, talk show host, TV commentator, and four-time Golden Glove champion. Comments regarding this article can be left below.