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Wladimir Klitschko vs. Evander Holyfield or Corrie Sanders?

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wladimir353242224.jpgBy Kevin Dinkins: Since destroying Lamon Brewster in six brutal rounds last month on July 14th, there’s been a tremendous amount of curiosity about who IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs) will elect to fight next. Of the names most bandied about, Corrie Sanders and Evander Holyfield have come up the most. Since Wladimir has a non-mandatory defense coming up, he’s free to take on a lower level fighter like these two, not that they’re not credible opponents, mind you, but clearly not at the top of the class at this stage in their careers. Normally, Wladimir would fight a lower guy, possibly someone in the lower top 10 or possibly as low as 14, but a big problem right now, unfortunately, is that many of the fighters in the top 10 are busy and have fights coming up.

The fighters lower than that, however, are relatively unknown and not something that the cable networks want to see matched up with Wladimir, mainly because it won’t generate fan interest in wanting to view the fight. That’s where Holyfield comes in, and to a much lesser extent, Sanders, both of whom the fans might tune in to watch just for the spectacle of seeing them essentially be put out of their misery by Klitschko, whom at this point in his career is at the top of his game.

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Lewis vs. Klitschko?

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lewis8927272.jpgBy Chet Mills III: According to Kommersant, the Russian news agency, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis (41-2-1, 32 KOs) is interested in fighting a rematch with Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs), if the money is right, and only if Vitali can somehow win back a heavyweight title. No doubt, it’s a tall order for Klitschko, who has been out of boxing for the past two years after retiring due to numerous injuries. For the bout to happen, Vitali, now 36-years old, must beat Jameel McCline, his next opponent on August 22, 2007, in Germany. If all goes well in that bout, Vitali then faces the winner of WBC heavyweight champion Oleg Maskaev and challenger Samuel Peter.

“If I become the world champion, the leading TV channels will make that offer,” Klitschko said to Kommersant news. For Vitali to even get to the stage of fighting Lewis, however, will be a minor miracle, since he’s had a long history of sustaining injuries while training for bouts, and for him, at this age, to be able to go through three consecutive fights without breaking down would be stunning. However, who knows? If Vitali can avoid running, and at the same time take it easy while sparring, he might get lucky and make it that far. That said, beating someone as good Oleg Maskaev or Samuel Peter, both very talented fighters, would be a long shot for Vitali, given his age and two years away from boxing while in retirement.

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Chagaev vs. Ibragimov

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chagaev5737_01.jpgBy Sam Bevington: In one of the first boxing heavyweight unifications bouts in ages, WBA heavyweight champion Ruslan Chagaev (23-0, 17 KOs) will meet up with Sultan Ibragimov (21-0, 17 KOs), the WBO heavyweight champion, on October 13, 2007, in Moscow, Russian. Both fighters have recently won their titles, and neither of them have much of a following in the United States or the world, for that matter. In terms of talent, both Ibragimov and Chagaev have to be considered two of the weakest heavyweight champions in memory, at least as far as I can recall.

Ibragimov, 32, won his title over Shannon Briggs, winning a 12-round unanimous decision on June 2, 2007, in a fight in which Briggs threw very few punches. It wasn’t the case of Ibagimov looking good, but more so that Briggs appeared to be battling health problems during the bout, and had problems breathing. Rather than taking advantage of Brigg’s immobility and punishing him, Ibragimov mostly stayed on the outside and threw jabs, and looking very timid. As for Chagaev, he won the WBA title in April 2007, beating Nikolay Valuev by majority decision. However, it appeared that Chagaev, in fact, lost the fight, as was the case in his fight with John Ruiz in November 2006, where Chagaev won a 12-round split decision.

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Erik Morales vs. David Diaz

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morales6665.jpgBy Chris Williams: Erik Morales (48-5, 34 KOs) will be challenging WBC light champion David Diaz (32-1-1, 17 KOs) on Saturday night at the Allstate Arena, in Chicago. Morales, 30, going into the bout, has lost three consecutive fights, two of which have been brutal knockout losses to Manny Pacquiao. In fact, Morales hasn’t looked good since winning a 12-round decision over Manny Pacquiao in March 2005. It’s unclear what happened since that time, perhaps it’s because of him putting on a great deal of weight after his winning effort against Paquiao.

Whatever the case, Morales has looked over-the-hill in the past two years, something that hasn’t been lost for the boxing public, many of which have been calling for Morales to retire rather than fighting on and receiving further beatings. On Saturday night, Morales is in for yet another test of how much he has left. It’s uncertain, however, whether Diaz, a fighter that is still relatively green, having mostly fought unknown fighters in his career up until wining the WBC interim lightweight title last August, when he stopped Jose Armando Santa Cruz in the 10th round. Diaz, 27, doesn’t have much power to speak of, but has an airtight defense and sound, albeit average power, offensive skills.

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Witherspoon Stops Griffis!

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witherspoon35353535.jpgBy Matt Rohr: On Friday night, heavyweight prospect Chazz Witherspoon (19-0, 13 KOs) had a much tougher time against Talmadge Griffis (24-7-3, 16 KOs), as he struggled much of the bout before coming on and stopping him in the ninth round of their 10-round bout at the City Center arena in Saratoga Springs, New York. Witherspoon, 25, the cousin of the heavyweight boxing great Tim Witherspoon, seemed timid in the early rounds, rarely throwing any meaningful punches aside from jabs.

Griffis, 32, on the other hand, was throwing most of the meaningful combinations up until the 6th round, when he appeared to wear down. Griffis, who took the bout on short notice, was outweighed by 30 pounds by Withersppon, making the fight seem to be between a heavyweight and a cruiserweight. If it hadn’t been for his stamina wearing out, Griffis would have had an excellent chance at making an upset of the hyped Witherspoon.

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Baldomir-Forrest: Does Vernon Have Anything Left?

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By Sean Mcdaniel:forrest9382323.jpg In a battle between two 36-year-old former welterweight champions, Carlos Baldomir (43-10-6, 13 KOs) meets up with Vernon Forrest (38-2, 28 KOs) on Saturday, July 28, at the Emerald Queen Casino in Tacoma, Washington. Baldomir is coming off an eight-month layoff since losing his WBC welterweight title to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in November 2006. However, not one to take things easy, Baldomir is showing his extraordinary courage by choosing Vernon Forrest, a former IBF and WBC welterweight champion, as his first bout back rather than an easy tune-up fighter.

However, both fighter’s time in the sun may well have past them by, as the welterweight division is now one of the toughest in all of boxing, with named fighters, such as Paul Williams, Antonio Margarito, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Miguel Cotto, Shane Mosley, Carlos Quintana, Kermit Cintron and Andre Berto among the ranks, to name just a few. Nevertheless, each of them can be beaten, but it will take a lot of talent, and ability to do it, in particular for fighters as old Baldomir and Forrest.

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The Paper Champion’s guide to avoiding unification! Ibragimov vs Chagaev in perspective!

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By Izyaslav “Slava” Koza: Recently I had the utter displeasure of reading Chris Byrd’s comments regarding how the October 13 unification bout is basically useless. Seeing as during Byrd’s paper title reign I felt he was the worst of the so called “titleholders,” it was my duty to provide a response to those comments, by putting together this little convenient step-by-step guide to what he, as well as others, have IN MY PERSONAL VIEW managed to do during their campaigns.

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