Klitschko vs. Peter = Another devastating Puritty-type defeat for Wladimir

By Dave Lahr: It’s been 12 years since Wladimir Klitschko had his backside handed to him by Ross Puritty in an 11th round TKO defeat for Wladimir in 1998. It was a case of an unbeaten Klitschko facing a fighter with huge power and a steel chin. Wladimir, after tasting some of Puritty’s right hands early on, was on his bicycle for the entire fight and ended up running out of gas in the 10th and getting pummeled by Puritty. Sadly, I see the same scenario for Klitschko when he fights Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) in a rematch on September 11th at the Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany. Peter is going to wear Wladimir down, take his heavy shots, hurt him with big right hands and make Wladimir run until his legs can no longer carry him.

This is pretty much what happened to Wladimir in his loss to Puritty. Although boxing fans like to say that Wladimir punished Puritty for 10 rounds, that’s not exactly what happened. Wladimir was fighting on the move from the 1st round on and not able to get any power on his shots because of his constant movement. It was very easy for Puritty to take Klitschko’s shots because there was no power on them. In essence, Wladimir was a weak lamb on that night he lost to Puritty. If you don’t believe me, watch the fight on YouTube and you’ll see what I’m taking about.

Peter is an even better puncher than Puritty. He does everything that Puritty could do, only better. Peter has a better work rate and is much more aggressive than Puritty was in his prime. Peter doesn’t have the 6’3″ height or the 80″ reach that Puritty had going for him, but Peter’s work rate and high pressure offense makes him a better fighter than “Ross the Boss” ever was. I think Wladimir is going to get hit early in the fight against Peter and start running just like he did against Puritty.

If Peter does his job of beating up Wladimir in the clinches, it will leave Wladimir with really only two options available to him in this fight – to run or to fight. I see Wladimir choosing to run for the hills. He doesn’t have the stamina nor the chin to beat Peter in a conventional fight. It has to be a clinch-plagued fight for Wladimir to have any chance at beating a knockout artist like Peter. This is exactly what Wladimir did in his win over Peter five years ago in 2005. But Peter didn’t really make Wladimir pay for his constant clinching and the referee did a horrible job of keeping Wladimir off of Peter.

This time, Peter is going to take matters into his own hands by pounding Wladimir every time the Ukrainian grabs him in one of his bear hugs. He’s going to hit him in the side of the head, the gut and maybe even the back of his head if Wladimir’s and presents it as a target. This is going to be a slaughter for Peter. Wladimir isn’t ready for this fight and never will at this point. He doesn’t have Vitali’s chin or his fighting stance. If he could fight like his brother, I would give Wladimir a good chance of beating Peter but he can’t. His chin is too weak and his style of fighting is perfect for Peter.

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