FanNation - The Republic of Sport

After the optimistic tone of the preview piece to this heavyweight unification fight, this writer feels the need to offer an apology to FIO readers - or at least a retraction of the positive sentiments that may have persuaded even one more person to waste their evening watching Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov "fight." Instead of producing a spectacle capable of stimulating interest in the heavyweight division, Klitschko and Ibragimov spent thirty-six minutes vindicating the general public's complete disinterest in anything over 200-pounds wearing boxing gloves.

The fight was an utter disgrace from start to finish. Klitschko has blamed Ibragimov for an overly defensive display, but Klitschko, given his physical tools and ominous power, was even less ambitious. We have noted how Klitschko refuses to unleash his right hand until the second half of a contest perhaps because to let his hands go early in what he feels may be a distance fight would trigger his stamina issues. But even in the final round of a fight with even less action than a sparring session, Klitschko would not commit himself. Given his overwhelming advantages over Ibragimov, Klitschko's timidity was almost laughable.

One wonders what the legends that had made Madison Square Garden the "Mecca of Boxing" must have made of a heavyweight unification in which the protagonists spent almost the entire fight pawing with and parrying away one another's lead hands. A tense opening round was acceptable, but the paying audience tired of Klitschko and Ibragimov's game as early as the second round, sending boos and jeers reverberating around the arena. But their remonstrations failed to inspire either combatant, as the tedium continued with neither man seeming to work to a game-plan, and neither appeared ready or able to adapt.

The occasional stiff jab landed by Klitschko received roars from the crowd, as if the punch had brought about a knockdown. Ibragimov's only response was to keep moving and occasionally launch himself into a straight left hand that aimed for Klitschko's chest, and managed to fall short of that target time after time. It is no exaggeration to state that the most solid contact landed by either fighter came when Klitschko brought his left glove down hard on Ibragimov's lead right, clearing the path for a right hand that Klitschko often refused to throw.

Indeed, the fight was as bad as it gets... (Read the full article here: Klitschko and Ibragimov Epitomize Heavyweight Hopelessness)