FanNation - The Republic of Sport

There is a hope for boxing.  To quote the old cliche, a great, white hope.  And his name is Wladimir Klitschko.

For those of you who missed it, this past Saturday, Klitschko avenged his 3-year old loss to Lamon Brewster by dominating the rugged American for 6 rounds before Brewster's trainer, Buddy McGirt, stopped the fight before the seventh.  It was a rare moment of nobility in boxing, as McGirt, a former fighter and an excellent trainer, put his fighter's health above all other considerations and ended the slaughter.  For Klitschko, the win ended 3-year speculation as to whether he could stand up to a relentless fighter who relied solely on will to win fights. 

The answer was, of course, yes.

The fight was, simply, a boxing clinic, put on by the Ph.d Dr. Klitschko.  Dr.  Steelhammer threw a total of 434 punches, and connected on 199 of them.  Now here's the amazing stat: through only six rounds, of Dr. Klitschko's 199 connects, 162 of them were jabs.  To quote George Foreman, "if you have a good jab, this sport is easy."  Klitschko dominated the fight with his jab, snapping it out relentlessly at Brewster's head with pinpoint precision.  With a 47% jab connect rate, Klitschko was on pace to break Ike Quartey's all-time compubox record of 313 jabs landed (vs. Jose L. Lopez) for a fight.  Now, in all fairness, Klitschko had a clear size advantage (the good Doctor stands at 6 ft. 6, while Lamon Brewster is only 6 feet tall).  But it was Klitschko's determination and precision that made the fight so special.  Brewster proved an easy target for Klitschko, who kept his right hand cocked to land the knockout blow that ultimately wasn't needed.  Brewster threw only half the punches Klitschko did, and was outclassed by a smarter, more athletic fighter.  Finally, brains and skill defeated "will." 

Brewster, who's nickname is Relentless because of his forcefull, never-say-quit nature, took all the punishment Klitschko had to give 3 years ago, and simply outlasted him.  Klitschko collapsed in the ring, and was later found to have a low blood-sugar level after the fight.  While big brother Vitali claims Wladimir was poisoned, Wladimir has adamantly stated that he never claimed he was poisoned.  The outcome of that fight came to be, as Klitschko said after the fight last Saturday, "my trademark, my black stain."  Despite all his athleticism and intelligence, Klitschko seems doomed to be regarded by Americans as a wimp.  This is unfair. 

Brewster, along with many American fighters and boxing fans, think that European fighters like Klitschko (who himself is a special case, as is his brother) aren't as tough as American fighters who grow up from poverty.  I disagree.  To me, Klitschko's education is what makes him both a great fighter and a marketable fighter.  This is a man who holds two doctorates (one of them in philosophy), is an avid chess player, a world heavyweight champion, and an Olympic gold medalist.  Not to mention that his brother (who was unfairly dubbed Quitschko and Sh*tali after he injured his shoulder against Chris Byrd, a fight he was winning before he tore his rotator cuff) has the best knockout % of any heavyweight fighter ever, at 92% (34 KOs out of 35 wins), and he is one of the few to never be knocked down in a fight.  Oh, and Vitali also was WBC Heavyweight champion in 2004 and 2005.  Vitali did redeem himself in the eyes of many fans after fighting Lennox Lewis very well, but the fact remains that people want the Klitschko brother's to fail.

Wladimir, in my mind, could possibly save boxing.  First of all, he's a heavyweight, and people don't care about boxing unless it's heavyweight boxing.  Secondly, he and his brother, both Ph.D's, and being multilingual, possessing charismatic, refined and articulate personalities, are perfect candidates as the faces of heavyweight boxing.  They are built for marketing; remember those dumb commercials with Oscar De La Hoya?  Imagine having a big Ukranian in a spoof of "Rocky 4" quoting Plato in between rounds to his trainer, than the trainer gives him some propel water, mutters a cliche, and then the fighter goes out and knocks his opponent out?  Perfect.  Though athletics are definitely anti-intellectual, the few intellectuals in sports always capture the imagination of the public.  While most athlete's thank God for their wins (on Saturday, Brewster thanked Jesus immediately upon being interviewed by Larry Merchant), the Klitschko's thank chess for giving them an insight into boxing that others don't have.

The most remarkable thing about Pat Tillman was his love of philosophy; where do you think his sense of conviction came from?  He never went anywhere without a copy of The Communist Manifesto.  This does not mean he was a communist; it's an excellent book, and Marx has been given an unfair reputation due to the relative ignorance of most people who would rather expound unfounded opinions rather than open up a book.  Jeff Samardzija was also a philosophy major in college; he enjoyed the writings of Plato and Aristotle more than those of Landry and Lombardi. 

Wladimir Klitschko is the epitome of the thinking man's athlete.  He is incredibly articulate, speaking english better than some people in this country, and has a deep respect and love for his sport.  I think that we should get behind him in his bid to become unified champion.  He's more personable than Lennox Lewis, and smarter and more marketable than Mike Tyson.  He's more intellectual than the god-squading Evander Holyfield (or should I say the "allah-brigading Evan R. Fields"), and Klitschko holds an international appeal that hasn't been present in boxing since, well, since Ali.  You see, as famous as Tiger Woods and Roger Federer are, famous boxers are a different type of animal.  Tiger Woods could become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and he wouldn't touch the impact of Ali.  Why?  Because a heavyweight champion who becomes famous immediately trancends his sport and becomes a world icon.  Klitschko could be the first person to bring this special status back to a sport that so desparately needs that champion again.

In the meantime, Dr. Klitschko is amazing to watch, and he killed Brewster, so here's one score for us philosophy nerds.