11.11.06 – By Scoop Malinowski: After Wladimir Klitschko’s workout on Tuesday, cruiserweight contender Jonathan Banks was telling some of us media members how Dr. Steelhammer is improving more and more, each training camp he becomes noticeably better, with new moves added to his arsenal. It wasn’t just the words being spoken, it was the convincing way they were spoken. Curious to hear more, I asked Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward about this. He had some fascinating comments:
“Wladimir’s becoming a complete fighter. For the first time I’ve ever had a heavyweight that I could always see weaknesses when I would train a guy to beat if I was ever in the other corner. Wladimir is gonna be the one I don’t think I could train no man to beat the way he is. I’m serious. I’ve never had a fighter – I went from Holyfield and all the guys I’ve worked with, never, Lennox – (Wladimir) is a very, very committed, very difficult to beat fighter. Because he won’t let you fight him. He makes you fight what he wants you to fight. But the biggest thing which I think people are not looking at is his speed for a big man. Tremendous speed.”
Hitting the mitts in the ring, Wladimir was looking incredibly soft on his feet too. Dare I say somewhat vaguely comparable to Cassius Clay or Larry Holmes?
“Yeah, he moves, that’s what I mean. Foot speed. He can move in, explode, move out, move back in, explode, and I’ve never saw anyone that could move in and explode and move in and out and be in perfect balance. Even when he’s going back he can stop right on a dime and then shoot a missile straight through.”
Steward was not underestimating Calvin Brock in any way.
“He’s basic fundamentally very sound. And I think that’s one of the things (about Brock’s strengths). The next thing is he’s had good stamina – he never gets tired. Which tells you he as very good stamina. And he doesn’t get hit. We watched a lot of tapes and only saw him get hit once or twice in all the tapes. An off-balance knockdown from McCline which he got up and beat the hell out of McCline the rest of that round. Good stamina. And good defense. And he’s been fairly active. So you can’t never discount that. His base is not exceptional in any one area – like he can be extremely fast – but he does everything decent and very good – jab, hook, right hand, body, good conditioning, blocks punches very good. And he is confident. He still hasn’t lost a fight. Brock is a good solid fighter.”
Later on Emanuel said that he expected his man to capture victory inside the distance. “He’ll knock him out.”
Scoop’s first book “Tyson vs. Lewis: The Inside Story About The Biggest Money Fight in Boxing History” will be published in 2008.