By Michael Collins: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) has decided to go extra soft for his next title defense by choosing 39-year-old Jean Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 KO’s) to fight on March 3rd rather than a number of higher rated contenders in the heavyweight division.
Wladimir, 35, will be facing Mormeck, #9 WBA, #9 WBO, at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany in one of the large stadiums with a seating capacity of 54,000. It wouldn’t be surprising if Wladimir fills the arena because he’s an incredibly popular star in Germany, and doesn’t matter who the opponent is. The Germans still come to see him in droves.
As far as the fight goes, Mormeck is probably going to last a round or two before getting knocked out. This is just a really bad mismatch. You can toss the #9 ranking that Mormeck was given by WBA and WBO out the window because I see that an incredibly inflated ranking, because he’s looked positively awful in his only three fights at heavyweight against Vinny Maddalone, Fres Oquendo and Timur Ibragimov.
All three fights took place in Mormecks’ home city of Paris, France in and all three occasions, he won questionable decisions. I had him losing all three by a minimum of two to four rounds. The sanctioning bodies have given him a big break by pushing him up high enough to get noticed by Wladimir and be given a fight. However, this is the worst opponent I’ve seen Wladimir face since before he picked up the IBF/WBA/WBO belts.
Mormeck. 5’10”, doesn’t have the height, doesn’t have the reach, doesn’t have the speed, doesn’t have the weight and doesn’t have the power. What Mormeck does have is a recognizable name with German boxing fans and he’s also got a large fan base in France. So he’s going to be able to pull in a lot of fans to see this fight both live in Dusseldorf and on television in Europe. But that’s about the only contribution I can see him making. He’s going to get slaughtered and there’s no two ways about it.