Stiff Klitschko stops Gomez in nine
by Scott Christ on Mar 22, 2009 1:03 AM EDT
in Boxing Results and Post-Fight Analysis
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WBC heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko improved to 37-2 with his 36th knockout, stopping Juan Carlos Gomez in the ninth round of their fight in Stuggart, Germany.
The fight, fed to U.S. audiences through ESPN Classic with Brian Kenny and Teddy Atlas doing commentary from a studio in Connecticut, was almost as ugly as they come at the top levels of today's still-deplorable heavyweight scene. 37-year old Klitschko was nearly immobile for the entire fight, leading me to think that his bad back might be coming back to haunt him. Gomez, at 35, wasn't much better. He did almost nothing right and was eventually hammered down by enough slow, awkward-looking rights that he could take no more.
Klitschko looked about 80% worse in this fight than he did in his return last October against Samuel Peter, when he destroyed the younger man and beat the will out of him. That night Klitschko was sharp, focused, and about as agile as you could expect an aging fighter with a bad back and a lot of rust to be. This time out, though, he was downright brutal to watch. He was sloppy, he was slow, and he looked uncomfortable.
Luckily, Gomez (44-2, 35 KO) came only to paw his lead right hand and try to stink out the joint. He got inside easily on the taller Klitschko, but once there did nothing. Gomez talked a big game in the build-up for this one about how he wouldn't just stand there and get hit. That's pretty much exactly what he did do once Vitali loosened up enough to hit him. It's not like it was the blinding speed of Klitschko that made the difference. It was pure, raw power, and not in the exciting and sudden prime Mike Tyson way. More in the "I'm really tall and really strong, so hitting you will hurt, even if it's this slow" sort of way.
As for "almost as ugly" -- well, it still beat his brother Wladimir's pathetic display against Sultan Ibragimov last February, or the excruciating Valuev-Holyfield fight from December. That's about the best I can really say.
Klitschko will either fight an optional opponent (his preference) or current mandatory Oleg Maskaev next. If there's any fight I'm itching to see after today, it's definitely 37-year old Vitali Klitschko and 40-year old Oleg Maskaev matching up. Boy howdy. What a barnburner that one promises to be. Thank you, WBC.
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I don’t think this fight was quite the stinker Scott does. It was tolerable. Gomez didn’t punk out, and while Vitali seemed to suffer a bizarre lack of mobility, his punches were fierce by the end of the fight.
My problem was that Vitali seemed to forget that he had a right hand for long stretches of the evening.
Overall, I didn’t regret watching the fight, and I don’t think Vitali loses anything out of it. If anything significant came out of this, it was that the intrigue of the potential Haye fight has been ratcheted up. If Vitali starts this slow and Haye can swarm him, I can see Haye getting under Vitali’s skin enough to put him in a good position to win the fight.
Of course Haye’s power hasn’t been adequately measured at HW, so who knows.
Reasons to like it
Look, this was by no means some Meteoric Fistic Events, but I agree that it didn’t stink half as much as some guys are saying. My reasons are:
1. It was free
2. It was free
3. They actually fought each other (see Flores-Herrera)
4. It was on in the early evening, which gave it a nostalgic, almost Wide World of Sports sort of feel.
5. There were some funny shots of German fight fans
I mean, I knew it was gonna be an ugly, southpaw-cursed sort of affair going in. But, relatively speaking, they didn’t really clinch as much as I thought they would (until the last couple of rounds when Gomez was surrendering in slow motion.) But I can’t mention it in the same breath as Wlad-Iggy or Valuev-Holy (or Valuev-Ruiz or Valuev-Pick Somebody). Wlad-Thomspon was ugly in many of the same ways and for many of the same reasons, so I’ll compare it to that. And if last night’’s thread is any indication, it wasn’t anywhere near the abortion of ‘March Badness.’
I do think Scott was right about Vitali’s mobility though. I know that he’s just freshly comebacking, but I think the medical clock is running out on his career.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
yeah i saw the reply on espn2 and i wasn’t completely bored out of my mind like i was during the ibragimov fight
The Dude Abides
by battle axe of doom on Mar 22, 2009 1:26 AM EDT reply actions
Gomez left his talent either in the dressing room, in training camp or in the toilet after he ate breakfast, because where did it go? Vitali’s movement was so stiff, awkward and in the wrong direction most of the time that it was nearly painful to watch. Gomez is a decorated amateur, is supposedly the fresher man and has a great left hand. He has a guy moving the wrong way against him and he can’t do anything but tie up, paw with the right and get hit by awkward flopping shots. Jorge Arce moved the wrong way against Vic Darchinyan and Darchinyan savaged him for it. On top of it Vitali kept dropping his hands which is the open invitation for punches to the chin, and Gomez couldn’t get anything done. It was a pattycake, hug-filled borefest in which I nearly fell asleep.
Not the wrong way
I know Teddy kept saying this, and I know why, but honestly it would’ve only been “the wrong way” if Gomez had any chance of hurting him. Yeah Gomez was pawing with the right looking for… something. But his left wasn’t much better really last night, and Vitali was goading him into throwing it so he could counter it. That said, Teddy was right when he talked about Klitscko giving up his tremendous size advantage instead of keeping Gomez on the end of his punches.
But oh well. Gomez lost every round, got cut up and knocked out, so I guess who are we to criticize the fight plan?
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
During the first round
when both fighters where holding out there lead hands a la Wlad vs Sultan I knew this was going to be a long ugly fight. Juan did some good things like getting inside but then he just stopped doing anything. One thing I liked is Gomez didn’t come into the fight way over weight like most guys do. I do not understand why they do this but it hasn’t worked and maybe guys will see that being in better shape will help out a little bit.
Vitali-Gomez
Was going to watch this tonight but dont think ill bother from what you all saying. The guy is a robot, but robots are programmed to destroy and thats what they do but not in a very exciting fashion. Im board of people generally Klitschko bashing, they do the buisness with who is front of them. The current division sucks and who is going to test them? They will go down in history with a Joe Louis kind of reign. If the brothers were not around. What kind of a division would it be?
Im saying it if Vitali/Wlad were Americans or even British they would be held in a higher status. Dont you think?
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
Yeah, without the Klitschkos, who the hell are we even talking about? I think the medical clock is ticking loud on Vitali again probably, and that’s not his fault. That’s just the way it is. No, neither are particularly thrilling, and their fights are often flat-out boring, but that falls on their horrible opponents, too. The last time we saw Wlad tested at all (Brock) he suddenly got pretty exciting.
In short, they are what they are. I’m hoping history is kind to them, like jrok says below. The heavyweight division is not their fault.
"If they cut my bald head open, they will find one big boxing glove. That's all I am. I live it." -- Marvin Hagler
by Scott Christ on Mar 23, 2009 5:26 PM EDT up reply actions
Wlad is becoming Larry Holmes
When Holmes had his reign, he was a dominant champ with no personality and weak competetion who everyone hated and wanted to see get knocked out. Wlad is becoming a dominant champ with no personality and weak competition who everyone hates and wants to see get knocked out. They also both had tremendous jabs, and were knocked down by far inferior fighters. Like with Holmes, I have a feeling history will be somewhat kinder to Wladimir then we are being right now, but what can you do? We either want to watch a fighter or we don’t.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Whoops, that was for dinkman
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
I love Larry Holmes. One of my fav fighters.
The weak Opposition of Witherspoon, Cooney, Weaver etc was far better than the dross around today.
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
Larrry Holmes is my #1 Heavyweight ATG
But overall his competition was pretty weak, and at times so pathetic that it made longtime observers like Howard Cosell walk away from the sport in disgust. In my mind that doesn’t make him less great. He was gritty, had spectacular form and for my money he used the jab better than any heavyweight since Joe Lewis. He would’ve been competitive if not outright dominant in any era, against any level of opposition.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Fuck Howard Cosell man. He made a lot of money during all those years Commentating on fights. Cant stand a one sided beating of blastproof Cobb (how often do we see that in any era?) and then spent rest of his days slating this great game.
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
That still doesn't mean the Cobb fight wasn't a low point for Heavyweight Championship Boxing
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
Theres been worse..before & after...
The Holmes-Cobb fight came a few week after the Mancini-Kim tragedy. Did Cosell Call that one? Not sure. But im sure that had something to do with it. Cobb was taking punishment all night but never off his feet in that match and made the final bell. Now that guy had a chin!
I think Guilt made Cosell quit, in my Opinion ,not Holmes or his competition.
Great as it was and one of the best fights i have ever seen i cant watch Benn-McClellan and enjoy it. Ya know what i mean?
Mainstream is brought to you ..
Underground you got to go there...
Not sure what you mean by Guilt
Look Cosell was no angel and I think his stance had as much to do with his disintegrating relationship with ABC, his tendency to alienate and piss on colleagues, his odious temperment, etc. In many ways, the Cobb fight was an easy scapegoat and a way to cover his retreat. Cobb had a head made of concrete and probably the most colorful stage personality of any fighter since Ali. He was also a notorious drug addict, a fight-fixer and despite being a very tough guy he was a horrible boxer and for all practical purposes, completely punchless. As far as I’m concerened it was a sham (just like the Scott LeDoux fight was a sham) and a travesty (like the Ali fight was a travesty — although not quite THAT bad). Just my opinion.
"I want to see ocean. I want to see black people. I want to see palms." - Wladimir Klitschko
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