By Michael Collins: IBO/IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 51 KO’s) defends his titles on November 10th against the biggest opponent of his career in 6’7 1/2″ Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KO’s) of Poland at the O2 World Arena, Altona, Hamburg, Germany. Wladimir, 36, is simply running out of suitable heavyweights for him to fight, hence the choice of the unproven 32-year-old Wach for his next opponent instead of someone with at least a tiny bit of experience at the world level.
The knock on Wach, besides his lack of hand speed, footwork and defensive skills, is that he’s never fought a 1st tier opponent before. Wach has been pushed up to the #4 spot by the World Boxing Council without ever having beaten anyone other than guys like Kevin McBride, Galen Brown, Julius Long and Tye Fields. If Wach had previously fought quality guys and then used 2nd tier guys to get ready for Wladimir it would be one thing, but to have only fought lower level opposition his entire career it puts him into a situation where he’s going to over his head when he steps out into the ring with Wladimir on November 10th.
There’s always a chance that Wach might be able to stop Wladimir if he can connect with one of his big, slow right hands. Wach does have power and Wladimir’s chin is fragile as we’ve seen in his losses to Corrie Sanders, Lamon Brewster and Ross Purity. However, it’s asking a lot of Wach to be able to do that when he’s never fought anyone good enough to get him ready to beat Wladimir.
Sanders, Purity and Brewster had already been in tough battles before they faced Wladimir. They weren’t just thrown out there after having one of the sanctioning bodies given them a high ranking based on lower level fights. Wach is going to be out of his league in this fight unless he can land a miracle right hand. I don’t see it happening to be honest. Wach is too slow, too easy to hit and too limited.