We've got a new poll up on the right sidebar for 2008 Fight of the Year. Your votes won't count as far as my list goes or anything, but hey, voting for things is fun.

Will anyone fight this man? Anyone?

My complaints about Wladimir Klitschko are not really complaints about Wladimir Klitschko. Yes, I wish he'd fight harder, which would work toward ending some of these snoozers a little earlier, a little more memorably, and a lot more fan-friendly, and would also work to make him more vulnerable.

But why on earth would he want to be more vulnerable? As it's become, he's damn near impenetrable.

Looking at Klitschko's three fights from '08, you have this:

February 23: A beyond routine win over Sultan Ibragimov, who presents no resistance and still manages to win two rounds on my card simply because Klitschko did even LESS in those two rounds. The highlight of this fight was either Ibragimov's tackle, or HBO showing highlights from Duddy-Smichet.

July 12: Tony Thompson wins two of ten rounds before Klitschko stops him in the 11th. Hey, at least he stopped him.

December 13: Late replacement Hasim Rahman proves as ineffective, washed-up, and out of his depth as we all figured, losing every round before Tony Weeks stops it early in the seventh. Rahman fights about as hard as Ibragimov did, but Rahman has the decency to go down.

Wladimir fights who he's given. He was supposed to face Alexander Povetkin on Saturday, but Povetkin came up lame in camp. It happens. I think he probably would have wiped Povetkin out, too, but it doesn't really matter. Outside of his brother, I just don't see anyone that's really going to challenge him.

The last time we got to see Wlad flat-out wreck a guy was Calvin Brock in the fall of '06. Wladimir was cut, felt the urgency, and destroyed Brock. If he fights Chris Arreola or David Haye, he'll have guys that are going to throw punches at him. You know what that probably leads to? Klitschko knocking the crap out of either of them. Haye is a lot of fun, but Monte Barrett gave him some wobbles. Travis Walker put Arreola down. Outside of a perfect blast, Klitschko isn't getting stopped by either, and the only way they're beating him is stopping him.

Such is life when you dominate, but I think it's worth some small discussion. In a different world, where Wladimir and Vitali are not brothers but are the exact same fighter, do you pick Wladimir over Vitali, even at this stage of both careers?

One can't catch a break, the other is given break after break after break after break

For all the righteousness (including a WBC investigation coming up) about Shane Mosley using EPO once, years ago, it's like nobody bats an eye that James Toney has failed a post-fight drug test on multiple occasions. All we hear is what a wonderful throwback he is, such a delight to watch perform, and if you don't like watching the out-of-shape, blown-up middleweight fight lame, dreadful bouts at heavyweight, you're clearly not appreciating his art form.

I get it with Toney. He was a spectacular fighter up through cruiser, and he's been a legit heavyweight contender, which is a lot more than you might have thought to ask of him in his prime. Still, the guy has given the sport a black eye more than once, and nobody seems to care. The "boxing person" has a fascination with Toney. Is he really that charming?

He's charming enough to have robbed Fres Oquendo of a win on Saturday, which is just another chapter of the careers of both men, and it's the same as the rest of them. Toney is given a gift by judges, Oquendo gets one taken away from him. You can argue Oquendo deserved a win over Evander Holyfield a couple years ago, and he didn't get it. That fight was closer than this one. Oquendo beat Toney. Toney should be retiring or marching his way down the ladder to fight on with deluded hopes of winning a title again.

Instead, you know what'll happen? JT will worm his way into a title shot sooner than later. Someone will pull out of a title shot, someone will need an opponent, someone won't want to take a real risk. I mean, it's not like co-WBA titlists Ruslan Chagaev and Nikolai Valuev are against the soft touch. Valuev is fighting a man closing in on 50, for God's sake, while Chagaev comes back to fight Carl Davis Drumond (26-0, 20 KO), who will be fighting outside of his native Costa Rica for the first time. He's 33 years old, I should mention, and his best win is a debatable decision against Kelvin Davis.

Ah, what a division. Most insulting might have been Barry Tompkins calling Toney-Oquendo "an action fight." Get some new glasses, Barry.

Demetrius Hopkins is not a fighter

I don't like getting all personal or crappy about fighters, really, but D-Hop never impressed me before Saturday and failed to do so again. Kendall Holt deserved better than a split decision, as it boggles the mind what fight Julie Lederman watched at ringside. Hopkins, whose best win is a stolen victory over Stevie Forbes, did enough to win some rounds and make it appear competitive scores-wise, but it really wasn't. He never had Holt in any trouble, Holt was the pursuer all night, and Hopkins didn't even do what he does best, which is jab a lot and work some off of that.

I question whether or not this is really the career Demetrius wants when I watch him fight. That could be totally off-base, of course. I'm just some dork watching TV. But he seems to lack not just fire, but ANY fire. It seemed clear he was well behind. He never stepped it up even for a moment in those last few rounds. Why not? D-Hop isn't a big puncher, but Holt's been down eight times in his career. He's really vulnerable.

...and the rest!

I still quite like Andre Ward, but of the Olympic Andres at 168, give me Dirrell, especially now that he's intent on bringing it. Ward, I think, may soon be lapped by Daniel Jacobs, too. He looked good coming back from the knee injury to waste Esteban Camou, but bad knee injuries have a way of coming back.

Yuri Foreman is quite talented. He predictably took James Moore to school in front of a hostile, pro-Irish crowd in Atlantic City. I still can't say I enjoy watching Foreman fight -- Cory Spinks has been his comparison before, and it's a pretty good one. His skill is evident, but he's not exciting, ever.

The great thing about Shawn Estrada beating up Shaun Spaid is we got to see a fight that would usually happen in some boxing club or armory on national TV, and then no more than five minutes after Barry Tompkins and Wally Matthews did the hard sell on Spaid as a toughman veteran with no fear, they lambasted the athletic commission for even allowing him to fight. Have it one way or the other. Yeah he was overmatched badly and it was a total farce and Spaid shouldn't have been in there, but had TV cameras not been rolling, would ANYONE care?

Versus showed some clips of Malik Scott's eight-round win over Raphael Butler between fights, though I'm not sure why they picked that fight over Eddie Chambers' eight-round decision win against Cisse Salif. Neither win is really impressive, but Eddie might actually win something someday if he has a great night and an opportunity. Malik Scott is now 32-0 and has only twice fought a 10-rounder. Maybe those two should fight each other. On second thought, let's not give ESPN producers any ideas.

Former world heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe really did show up in Mannheim, and he really did fight Gene Pukall, and he really did knock him down in the fight, and he really did win an eight-round decision. It really happened. See you again in two or three years, "Big Daddy." How anyone lets this guy fight is a mystery. He's admitted to having brain damage.

Exactly one month after a dreadful split decision loss to Grady Brewer, Cornelius "K-9" Bundrage came back in Germany to upset Zaurbek Baysangurov with a fifth-round stoppage. Go figure. Baysangurov came in 19-0 with 14 knockouts. He had a wide decision win at 154 pounds against upcoming middleweight championship challenger Marco Antonio Rubio, back in 2006.

Raul Garcia successfully defended the IBF strawweight title in Loreto, Mexico, beating Jose Luis Varela for the second straight time. I'm not sure why they had a rematch, given that Garcia beat him on scores of 118-110 across the board just three months ago, but hey.

The man Garcia beat for the title, Florante Condes, was back in the ring in the Philippines, beating woefully inexperienced Ronel Ferreras via technical decision after five rounds (48-47, 48-47, 47-48).

Beibut Shumenov improved to 7-0 by beating rugged veteran Epifanio Mendoza in Bellevue, Washington, which is quite a nice win to have in your seventh pro fight. That's no joke opponent by any stretch. Mendoza pressed Jeff Lacy in a brawl this year, and he fought Chad Dawson last year without embarrassing himself for the four rounds it lasted. Shumenov is being fast-tracked like crazy. He did two fights against nobodies, one against veteran can Shannon Miller, and since then it's been Donnell Wiggins, Lavell Finger, Montell Griffin (yes, that one) and now Mendoza. And he shut Griffin out. I don't care how old or washed-up Griffin is, to shut that guy out over 12 rounds in your sixth pro fight is an accomplishment.

The major heavyweight year ended much as it started, with Wladimir Klitschko owning the division against overmatched opposition, and with Hasim Rahman being nothing but a shell of the man that once shockingly knocked out Lennox Lewis.

Klitschko (52-3, 46 KO) dominated Rahman (45-7-2, 36 KO) over six-plus rounds, knocking him down in a horribly one-sided sixth round and then landing enough hard blows early in the seventh for referee Tony Weeks to step in and call an end to it, meaning it went about as exactly as everyone expected, maybe a round or two longer.

That should just about do it for the 36-year old Rahman, who hasn't scored an impressive or notable win since 2005. Since that win over Monte Barrett, Rahman has gone 4-2-1 with a no-contest, beating nothing but club fighters, and often not even looking good doing that. He's had a long, strange career, and it looks like it's over at the top tier. He was so thoroughly overmatched tonight and unwilling to fight Klitschko that he's clearly got nothing left as a top fighter.

Klitschko will move on and fight Alexander Povetkin, Chris Arreola or David Haye sometime in March or April, I'd wager, and he should be a heavy, heavy favorite against any of them. Arreola was hurt by Travis Walker, Povetkin just doesn't strike me as capable of being a truly top-notch guy, and Haye was shaken by Monte Barrett a bit even though he did basically dominate. I'd love to see Klitschko-Haye simply because I think Haye will make Wlad work.

I said during the fight that this was yet another case of Klitschko fighting up or down to his opponent. Haye would make him fight up. Rahman had him fighting down.

The fight as also yet another example of why people crap on heavyweight fighting. It wasn't interesting, wasn't competitive, and you clearly had one guy (Rahman) not in shape to fight for more than five rounds. And worse than that, he didn't even fight. In the sixth, he landed one punch. He spent a lot of time laying on the ropes starting in the third round, barely punching at all.

The HBO team today was Lampley, Kellerman and Lennox, and they did their usual bit when they watch a heavyweight fight with Lennox in the booth, which means they made verbal love to Lewis while Lewis agreed with their assessment of him as better than everyone fighting today. They're right, of course -- but we all know that. There was even one round where Lennox decided, out loud, that he is better than Wladimir Klitschko. As always, an interesting group that teaches me a lot about the fights I'm watching.

Still, though, this is a great shot:

via d.yimg.com

This is the first of THREE fight cards we'll have round-by-round coverage for today at Bad Left Hook. The other two cards will have their own threads later.

Klitschko-Rahman kicks off all-day and night coverage here at BLH at 4:45 ET on HBO. After the fight, a replay of de la Hoya-Pacquiao will be aired.

Our other fight coverage today:

James Toney v. Fres Oquendo and Andre Ward v. Esteban Camou (9 ET, Vs.)

Kendall Holt v. Demetrius Hopkins (11 ET, Showtime)

Source: BoxingScene.com

Hasim Rahman has decided to dump longtime trainer Marshall Kauffman in favor of the more famous Buddy McGirt for his Saturday fight against Wladimir Klitschko. And yes, it is Friday.

Kauffman says he was in camp with Rahman up until Wednesday, and that he's not sure of the details of why Rahman's tune so dramatically changed about being his chief second. He's also being polite and taking a "that's the business" stance, which is very gracious of him. Frankly, I'd probably be more bewildered than anything.

Kauffman also says that Rahman is in great shape and that he expects Hasim to come in around 238 pounds for the fight with Klitschko, which would be his lowest weight since his 2006 loss to Oleg Maskaev, which was also his last high-profile fight.

I don't mean to dis Buddy McGirt, really, but 2008 has not been his finest year, and really he hasn't been going too hot for a good bit now. He threw in the towel on Paulie Malignaggi on November 22, which was the latest in a series of defeats for McGirt's fighters. Also notable have been Lamon Brewster's one-sided beating at the hands of Klitschko last year, Antonio Tarver's lopsided loss to Chad Dawson, and Vernon Forrest's rather embarrassing empty gas tank loss to Sergio Mora, though that one was emphatically avenged. He also all but assumed chief second duties in the corner of Eddie Chambers this past January, when Chambers gave a fight away against Alexander Povetkin.

On the topic of the fight, Brian Doogan wrote a weird article at ESPN where he seems to assume that Hasim Rahman being tired at a press conference after having just flown over to Germany means he doesn't care about the fight. Still, it did give us this quote:

"Suddenly, there are some names in heavyweight boxing, which we have not had in the past couple of years," Klitschko said. "Samuel Peter and Calvin Brock were not so good."

Source: BoxingScene.com

According to BoxingScene.com, reports are coming from Germany that 41-year old former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe may wind up fighting on the undercard of Wladimir Klitschko-Hasim Rahman on December 13.

As the great Chuck D said, don't believe the hype.

Since first retiring in 1996, Bowe (42-1, 33 KO) has fought twice, once in 2004 and again in 2005. Weighing in at 263 pounds in his '04 fight with journeyman Marcus Rhode, Bowe scored a second round TKO, though was unimpressive in doing so. In '05, he had ballooned up to 280 pounds -- about 40 pounds over his prime fighting weight -- and won a split decision over Billy Zumbrun. He was horrible.

Bowe also hinted that he would enter MMA last year, but didn't show up. That has happened a few times with boxing, too. "Big Daddy" has often left promoters hanging with no notice in the last few years, and it won't be surprising if he does so again.

Bowe was a hell of a fighter when he was dedicated and keeping himself in shape. His trilogy with Evander Holyfield was the stuff of heavyweight legend. But it's been over a decade since Bowe could be taken seriously. He's old, out of shape, and rustier than a '79 Ford in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

Top Rank President Todd DuBoef told BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno that negotiations are in progress to match former WBC heavyweight titleholder Hasim Rahman against Wladimir Klitschko on Decmeber 13 in Germany. Rahman would be replacing Alexander Povetkin, who recently pulled out due to injury.

Rahman (45-6-2, 36 KO) hasn't fought since a no-contest against James Toney in their horrible July rematch, a fight that FOX Sports Net insultingly billed as being for "the world heavyweight championship," a goal neither man has been anywhere near in years. The fight was at first ruled a Toney TKO in the third round, but was later rightfully changed to a no contest by the California State Athletic Commission.

The 35-year old Baltimore native last fought with a recognized world title on the line against Oleg Maskaev in August 2006, losing via dramatic 12th round TKO. He has gone 4-0 since then, beating journeymen Taurus Sykes (a fight where Rahman was grossly out of shape), Dicky Ryan, Cerrone Fox and Zuri Lawrence, the amazing punchless heavyweight with a current career record of 24-14-4 with zero knockouts.

Rahman, of course, is best known for shockingly knocking out Lennox Lewis in 2001. Seven months after that win, Lewis got revenge by obliterating Rahman in four rounds. Rahman, frankly, has not been the same since. He was scheduled to face Vitali Klitschko at one point, but that was the fight where Vitali kept injuring himself and never actually made it to the ring, retiring early and leaving Rahman without a massively hyped fight.

I think the fight sucks, to be perfectly honest, but I understand that Wladimir wants to keep the date, fight for a third time in 2008, and stay active, and that he had a decent opponent lined up, and that guy bailed. It's not easy to find a replacement opponent for the world's No. 1 heavyweight on short notice; Rahman would be getting a chance to stun the world again and return to the great heights of the sport. Klitschko, more likely than not, would be getting a soft but name opponent.

Some people believe that Rahman would be a live dog. Probably goes without saying that I think Rahman gets jabbed for 12 rounds (or until he decides to quit) or he gets knocked out as soon as Klitschko engages. I do know that Wladimir could use a big performance; the win over Ibragimov was God awful, and the Tony Thompson fight was passable at best.

WBO/IBF heavyweight titlist Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles against IBF mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin on December 13 in Germany, televised in the United States by HBO.

Dan Rafael reports that Klitschko's promotional company, K2 Promotions, heavily outbid Povetkin's people at Sauerland Event to win the rights to the fight, ending a lengthy negotiation process that went nowhere, owing to reported bad feelings between Sauerland and Klitschko.

K2 bid a massive $13,130,130, easily topping Sauerland's bid of $8,114,140. To say that Sauerland probably didn't expect K2 to go so high is likely an understatement.

Povetkin (16-0, 12 KO) earned the fight by beating both former titlist Chris Byrd and then-unbeaten American Eddie Chambers in a three-match eliminator series that also included Calvin Brock. Both Brock and Byrd are former Klitschko victims. He also won a stay-busy fight against can Taurus Sykes in July.

Klitschko (51-3, 45 KO) is on a nine-fight winning streak (six KO in that span) since losing to Lamon Brewster in 2004. He will likely be a heavy betting favorite against the 29-year old Povetkin.