Wladimir Klitschko has successfully defended his undisputed heavyweight championship of the world tonight in Hamburg, Germany. After a tense and entertaining fight, Klitschko knocked Kubrat Pulev out in the fifth round with a sensational left hook.
The fight turned out to be completely different than the usual Klitschko fight. While there was some holding, it didn’t overshadow the fight. Pulev was able to have more success offensively in the fight than most of the champion’s former opponents had. But his offensive style and his unwillingness to keep his hands up played right into Klitschko’s hands.
Pulev started strong. He did a lot of work on the inside and it looked like he stunned the 38-year old Ukranian halfway through the first round. Just as we were figuring out whether Klitschko was hurt or not, the champion landed a crushing left hook sending Pulev to the canvas.
Pulev was hurt badly, but was allowed to continue. Unable to find his legs back, Pulev got sent to the canvas again. This time from a right hook. Pulev got up and somehow made it out of the round.
Surprisingly, the Bulgarian was able to recover in his corner between rounds.
The second was a lot slower than the wild first round. Both fighters were mainly working behind their jabs. Pulev was very successful in the jab contest. On the inside, he was both dirty and smart. Everytime Klitschko tried to tie him up, he threw as many rabbit punches as possible, forcing the referee to break the fighters directly apart. This way the 33-year old fighter prevented his opponent form leaning on him, which the champion often does to slow down his opponents.
The third round started where the second ended. Until Klitschko landed a big right hook. Pulev, who again refused to keep his hands up, was hurt but able to stay on his feet. But not for very long, the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world landed a big left hook which put his opponent down for the third time. But Pulev managed to get up and recover.
The challenger had by far his best round in the fourth. Now he was again very successful with his jab, he also managed to land a few solid straight right hands on the champion. Although Klitschko ended the round strong with two left hooks, the fourth was the first and only round I scored for ‘The Cobra’.
The fifth and final round started very promising for Pulev. After a slow first minute of the round, the challenger landed a great combination of punches which seemingly stunned the champion. But just as in the first round, Klitschko came back immediately.
‘Doctor Steelhammer’ absolutely sparked Pulev with a brilliant left hook. The Bulgarian had no chance of getting up and was counted out with 49 seconds to go in the round.
With this victory, Wladimir Klitschko defended his heavyweight championship successfully for the seventeenth time. The champion improved his record to 63-3 with 53 KO’s.
Pulev, who received a standing ovation from the crowd for his efforts, saw his record drop to 20-1 with 11KO’s.
