By Michael Collins: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) will be taking a rare soft opponent in his next fight on March 3rd against Jean Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 KO’s) at the Espirt Arena in Dusseldof, Germany.
This is a well-deserved break for the 35-year-old Wladimir, as he’s fought some quality heavyweights in the last couple of years in Eddie Chambers, Samuel Peter and David Haye. Wladimir deserves to face the 39-year-old Mormeck, who previously held the WBA/WBC straps when he fought at cruiserweight.
In a really peculiar move, Mormeck abandoned the cruiserweight division a losing his titles to David Haye in 2007. He took a couple of years off and then moved up to the heavyweight division where he’s been much less effective in terms of his performances at this weight compared to when he fought at cruiserweight.
Mormeck has a perfect 3-0 record since he moved up in weight, beating Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov all by controversial decisions.
Wladimir will have a six inch reach advantage to go along with his eight inch height advantage over the 5’10” Mormeck. This is going to be very tough on Mormeck, because he’s always been a fighter that does his best work on the inside.
At heavyweight, Mormeck has altered his fighting style in dramatic ways, using a lot of movement and in and out attacks. He doesn’t seem to want to have chin tested by the big heavyweights he’s been facing and the movement has helped him, but also hurt his work rate.
Against Wladimir, Mormeck will have a lot of problems landing his shots when he dashes forward. That’s an approach that many fighters have tried with Wladimir and it’s not likely to work because of his foot movement. Against a stationary heavyweight, Mormeck would have a lot better chance. I can’t see Moremeck beating any of the top 10 heavyweights nor most of the top 15 heavyweights as well, which is why this fight is kind of disappointing.