As most fight fans already know, on November 28th heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3 53KO’s) will be making his return to the ring as he defend his WBO, WBA, and IBF titles against undefeated contender Tyson Fury (24-0 18KO’s). This fight will take place in Dusseldorf Germany and will be televised live on HBO Championship Boxing.
Wladimir Klitschko is without a doubt one of the great heavyweights of the past 25 years and is currently the longest reigning champion in the sport, and arguably one of the most accomplished fighters in the sport today as well. He holds a win over almost any top ten contenders you can think of from the past ten years. Some of those wins are Chris Byrd (twice), Ray Mercer, Calvin Brock, Alexander Povetkin, Ruslan Chagaev and Sultan Ibragimovjust to name a few.
After suffering a few knockout losses earlier in his career, Klitschko got with the late great Emanuel Steward and made some major adjustments to his style. Steward helped Klitschko adapt a style that would help mask his vulnerabilities and make the most out of his physical attributes.
Therefore, he adopted a style in which he works off the jab and keeps his usually shorter opponents at bay. Once he establishes distance and pace, he starts to drop his right hand down the middle once in a while. When an opponent happens to get on the inside, he immediately clinches.
That is Wladimir Klitschko’s style of fighting in a nutshell.
However, what would happen if an opponent of his got on the inside and Vladimir couldn’t clinch him? We all know he can sufficiently clinch smaller and less athletic opponents, but how would Wladimir react if he was forced to scrap?
We, as fight fans, already know one of Klitschko’s weaknesses, which is his chin and inability to scrap. That is precisely why he has to immediately clinch as soon as an opponent gets on the inside, which is also the reason why he has to always keep a certain distance between him and his opponents at all times.
As soon as a fighter starts getting on the inside and doing some work, Wladimir’s facial expression changes right away and he starts to panic and then he mentally falls apart. This has happened to him in past outings.
Tyson Fury, on the other hand, is a young, exciting 26-year-old undefeated heavyweight contender from England. He talks a good game and is always saying something controversial. He has a knack for keeping things exciting.
At times, he may not look like the most athletically gifted fighter, but the boy sure knows how to fight and possesses an underrated ring I.Q. and a genuine confidence within himself. He holds quality wins over Derrick Chisora (twice), Steve Cunningham and Kevin Johnson.
Fury stands at 6’9” with an 85-inch reach compared to Wladimir’s 81-inch reach. This will be the first time in a long while that Vladimir is going to be the smaller man going into a fight. Fury’s size advantage will make it difficult for Wlad to clinch him which could make it easier for Fury to create a messier scrap by using his physicality and carrying out the proper game plan.
Tomorrow night, we could very well experience an era of dominance come to its incredible end as the world welcomes a new heavyweight champion in Tyson Fury.
