14.11.06 – By Scoop Malinowski: It really is becoming a pleasure to listen to all-time great pugilist specialist Lennox Lewis offer his unique insights on the HBO telecasts. Here is a summary of Lewis’s commentary during the Klitschko-Brock match.
Round 1: “(Klitschko’s gameplan.) Basically stay tall, jab a lot, work the jab until you see an opening. Then throw a combination.”
“Calvin needs to get inside of Klitschko now.”
“You definitely have to control the fight with a jab just like Emanuel says.”
Round 2: “It’s difficult for Calvin to get in.”
Round 3: “Right now (Brock) can only get to the body, so he’s hitting the body.”
“Brock is faster than Klitschko thought. Wladimir is finding it difficult to hit Brock with that jab.”
Emanuel Steward in the corner: “You’re letting him get too close. You’re not using your distance now.”
Round 4: “Brock is doing a great job of not getting hit by jabs or right hands.”
“Klitschko, if he wants to get to Brock, needs to relax more. He’s tight. He needs to loosen up his punches.”
Emanuel in the corner: “You’re letting him get his confidence up. Okay, I won’t say no more.”
Round 5: “Let me tell you, those are not soft jabs. He’s stepping in with them. Calvin’s definitely feeling them.”
“This is where Calvin needs to step it up – when Wladimir is resting – he’s already thrown 10-12 hard jabs.”
‘It was a situation where he was tight, now he’s loosened up.”
Jim Lampley: “Wladimir Klitschko threw 57 jabs in that round.”
Round 6: “…it opens up other punches. He’s softened him up, now he’s worried about the left hand. Now it opens him up for the right hand to come.”
“Calvin’s standing right in front of him. He needs to move around and show him some different angles.”
Emanuel in corner: “When you take a step back and make him miss, throw the right hand. You gotta step it up, he’s getting too much confidence.”
Round 7: “Wladimir threw a left hook-right hand – famous combination from trainer Emanuel Steward. Like I said, Wladimir Klitschko has a great right hand. When you set it up with your left jab, it’s hard to see that right hand.”
“I think it was a good stoppage. The way he landed on his face, I’m glad the referee stopped it.”
Postfight: “(Comparing his right hand to Klitschko’s.) About the same. Not many heavyweights will contend with his right hand…(Defending Klitschko’s ability to take a punch.) They only talk about his chin in one fight. It hasn’t come into play in the last few fights – that’s out of the book.”
Lewis was excellent and professional in calling this decent heavyweight scrap. He called it as he saw it, with accuracy and fairness and no ego or bias against Klitschko which was commendable. Lewis is a credit to the HBO crew and we look forward to more of his work.
Scoop’s book “Lewis vs. Tyson: The Inside Story About The Biggest Money Fight In Boxing History” will be published in 2008.