Wladimir Klitschko close to finalizing deal to fight Jean-Marc Mormeck on December 10th

By Boxing News - 10/01/2011 - Comments

Image: Wladimir Klitschko close to finalizing deal to fight Jean-Marc Mormeck on December 10thBy Eric Thomas: IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO’s) is reportedly close to finalizing his December 10th fight against 39-year-old former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck (36-4, 22 Ko’s) at the ESPRIT arena, Düsseldorf, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The Klitschko-Mormeck fight still hasn’t been signed, but is looking very likely according to Dan Rafael at ESPN.

This isn’t exactly a popular pick for Wladimir, as he’s been roundly criticized for considering the small 5’11” Mormeck because of the French fighters’ advanced age and how badly he’s fought in his three fights at heavyweight. In the minds of a lot of boxing fans, Mormeck lost all three fights, which took place in Mormeck’s home country of France. It’s a good thing that Wladimir wants to fight Mormeck in Germany rather than France in that case, because it would be bad for Wladimir to be going into a fight where he may need a knockout to ensure he gets the win. However, even then, Wladimir would likely have no worries because Mormeck is going to be taking a vicious beating against the much taller 6’6″ Wladimir.

This is fight that makes sense for Wladimir in terms of making money, but not as far as attracting worldwide interest from boxing fans. Mormeck is ranked #9 WBA, #9 WBO and #12 IBF, but there are so many better fighters than Mormeck in the division that would give Wladimir a much better fight.

It’s highly unlikely that either Showtime or HBO will show any interest in televising the Mormeck-Klitschko fight because it’s too much of a blatant mismatch going into the fight. There’s fights that the cable giants are willing to show involving Wladimir, but this clearly isn’t one of them. Wladimir has momentum going for him right now due to his 12 round unanimous decision win over David Haye last July, which brought in great rankings for Wladimir in the U.S. It’s unfortunate that Wladimir is taking such a huge backwards step by selecting the nearly 40 Mormeck instead of a guy that has a chance and someone that boxing fans want to see.



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