Sosnowski says Vitali Klitschko is past his prime

By Chris Williams: 38-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KO’s) is considered by most boxing fans to either be the number #1 or #2 heavyweight in the entire heavyweight division. However, his challenger for his upcoming May 29th bout in Germany, Polish heavyweight Alberto Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KO’s) thinks different, saying, according to Fightfranchise.com, “I realize that all the experts consider me a long shot, but Klitschko will regret having given me this opportunity. He’s already passed his prime. Many of his fights have been against living punching bags, who had already lost in the locker room. You only have an opportunity like this once in a lifetime and I want to use it. I’ll show Vitali and become the first Polish heavyweight champion.”

This is interesting to know. You would think that the 31-year-old Sosnowski was a real life threat to Vitali by listening to what he’s saying. However, in reality, Sosnowski has very little chance of pulling this win off and will likely end up knocked out well before the 12th round. He was basically hand-picked by Klitschko over a number of more qualified and arguably much talented fighters than him and should consider himself incredibly fortunate that he’s being given this gift chance.

Had Sosnowski been forced to fight his way to a title shot by fighting the likes of Odlanier Solis or Denis Boytsov, chances are Sosnowski would be knocked out or otherwise dominated in a one-sided loss to either of those guys? Sosnowski is a good basic heavyweight, but not a really good one. He seems more comfortable going against the likes of Danny Williams and Francesco Pianeta. But it’s not going to be really fair for Sosnowski, 6’2”, on May 29th, because he’s going to be giving away a lot of height, experience and a massive amount of power and athleticism.

Vitali is a world class fighter, whereas Sosnowski is more of a good B level heavyweight in a poor division. There is a grain of truth in what Sosnowski says about Vitali being past his prime. Of course he is. Vitali is 38 now, and has visibly slowed in the past couple of years. However, because of his huge height, power, size and excellent defensive skills, it’s really hard for the younger heavyweights to take advantage of this. At 6’2”, the physical dimensions between Sosnowski and the 6’7” Vitali will likely be too much for Sosnowski.

It’s just difficult for much smaller fighters to take on bigger guys and do well, even if they weight almost the same amount. Sosnowski would likely have major problems against Vitali even if he was as tall as him. That’s where Vitali’s better physical size and better boxing skills come into play. He’s just a superior fighter and it goes way beyond just being the bigger guy. I expect Sosnowski to have his moments for a round or two but then start to take a lot of punishment and eventually get stopped by Vitali.

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