By Rik Hine – Hope for the best and expect the worst. That may be reasonable advice for living a good life, but it’s not a mantra that fight fans should be expected to chant before a Heavyweight Championship match.
Unfortunately, until someone emerges with the skills to overturn their absurd size advantages, the Brothers K are likely to dominate for as long as they desire. That’s good news if you suffer from insomnia but bad news if you want to watch fighters who offer anything other than being gigantic in a land of Lilliputians.
Earlier tonight in Germany, “Fast” Eddie Chambers was about as quick as the proverbial rabbit in the headlights, and offered about as much resistance. The only thing more frustrating than Chambers’ refusal to fight was Wladimir Klitschko’s usual unwillingness to actually attack an opponent who’s still breathing.
If you think that’s unfair, then you didn’t hear the personnel in both corners screaming at their respective charges. Chambers’ chief second clearly couldn’t muster enough profanity to get Eddie on the offensive, and Manny Steward seemed close to calling Wlad a coward..
The enjoyable conceit behind the movie “Groundhog Day” was that Bill Murray’s character learned his lesson and finally found a way to break free from everyday being a copy of the one before. The infinitely less entertaining Klitschko made us wait for eleven dully, repetitive rounds before finding the formula and landing the punch he probably could have mustered in the first few stanzas. The less said about Eddie’s performance, the better.
With barely five seconds left in the fight, Klitschko landed the concluding punch and Chambers slumped to the canvas unconscious; not unlike the way most fans were likely slumped in their seats. Soporific the Klitschkos may be, addictive they’re not.
David Haye may not be the saviour of heavyweight boxing but even if he can’t deliver us our daily bread, please let him deliver us from boredom. Amen.
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