11.11.06 – By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: The fight between Calvin Brock and Wladimir Klitschko was just getting warmed up as a somewhat competitive first few rounds were punctuated by a Klitschko cut caused by an accidental butt. Brock for his part was working well by trying to come in under Klitschko’s jab and was having some success with body shots and grazing shots as Klitschko tied up rather then attempting to risk any sort of infighting. Though Klitschko was capitalizing on the jab when the distance between them was at arm’s length when Brock ducked under it with a high guard he didn’t just lose round after round.
Before the faithful last round, Lederman had it 4-2 for Klitschko, and while I had it 5-1. The point is, Brock was still in the fight using the strategy he did. Perhaps, he would lose on points or something might happen later on that would give him a shot, but at least he wasn’t too tentative and he was rather competitive till the 7th round.
With the 6th round completely one sided due to the Klitschko jab alone, and not enough inside attack by Brock, the Brock corner made what I think was their faithful mistake. As Brock sat down in the corner he was told to get his jab working, and as soon as I heard that shades of Mercer Klitschko flashed right away and I immediately commented that it was a mistake. As it turns out that was the mistake I had anticipated.
In the Mercer fight, old Ray, while not as fast or active as Brock, did attempt to in his words get his jab going. Klitschko in his usual manner, due to his size advantages, simply dropped his jab over the short armed, and short opponent, and followed it up with hooks and straights. Those this ending was not as spectacular as the Mercer fight because Klitschko was looking to be more precise then overpowering the result was not very different.
Brock having to open up against a bigger, faster, longer armed man, to put his corner advice into use got pole-axed by jabs and the eventual straight rights that first hurt him and then put him down face first. It was obvious that once Klitschko found the straight right the fight would be over, and once Brock obliged him with the jab, Klitschko needed to do little else to win the fight.
A shorter guy’s best chance against a taller, well balanced opponent like Klitschko, who steps back or rushes in to nullify anything the smaller guy has is doing what Brock did early. If he would have kept to that strategy, without any other changes he would at the very least have had a better chance, as it stands its another nice TKO for Klitschko. I know some would disagree with this assessment but that is about how I saw it and commented on it here in Jersey.
Congratulations to Wladimir Klitschko on a great win.