By Allan Fox: Johnathon Banks, the trainer for IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (62-3, 52 KOs), likes what he sees from Wladimir in his training camp as he gets ready for his September 6th title defense against his unbeaten IBF mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev (20-0, 11 KOs) at the O2 World Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Wladimir has 15 sparring partners in his training camp in beautiful Going, Austria. British heavyweight Anthony Joshua and American journeyman Kevin Johnson are two of the sparring partners that Wladimir has to help him get ready for the 6’4 ½” Pulev.
Wladimir doesn’t have anyone that fights exactly like Pulev, but with Wladimir’s trainer having them imitate Pulev’s fighting style, they’re going the best they can to impersonate him. Wladimir is sparring as much as 14 rounds of continuous sparring with different sparring partners.
“Wladimir is a real workhorse; he is probably the only heavyweight in the world that could go 15 to 16 rounds in full pace,” Banks said to the BiLD.
Wladimir is going to need to be in top shape for the Pulev fight because the Bulgarian heavyweight likes to push a fast pace with his stinging jabs and his clubbing right hands. Pulev backs off a lot when he’s attacked, but he immediately comes forward to look to land his jabs and clubbing shots.
Wladimir might be better off to make Pulev back up in the fight because he’s not nearly the same fighter when he’s being attacked and is forced to fight going backwards than he is when he’s coming forward and putting everything he has on his jabs and his right hands.
Pulev isn’t a big puncher, but because of his size he’s got respectable power. He’s someone that wears his opponents down over the course of the fight with the combination of his clubbing shots and his hard jabs, which are like power shots.
Wladimir’s manager Bernd Bönte said this about Wladimir’s training facility in Going, Austria: “We have here simply the most optimal conditions.”
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