By Jim Dower: In a mostly one-sided fight, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KOs) destroyed his previously unbeaten opponent Kubrat Pulev (20-1, 11 KOs) by a 5th round knockout on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany.
Wladimir finished Pulev off with a big left hook to the head in the 5th round that put Pulev down flat on his back. He was far too hurt to get back up. The fight was halted at 2:11 of the 5th. Wladimir also knocked Pulev down three other times with left hooks. Wladimir dropped Pulev twice in the 1st round with left hooks, and once in the 3rd round.
Pulev got away with a massive amount of rabbit punches each time Wladimir would elect to clinch. Referee Tony Weeks seemed to drop the ball in letting Pulev throw so many rabbit punches without doing anything about it. However, even if Weeks had penalized Pulev for the rabbit punches, it’s not likely that Pulev would have changed his game. He seemed intent on trying to knock Wladimir out any way he could have.
Moments before Wladimir knocked Pulev out in the 5th, Pulev nailed him with several hard head shots that had Wladimir holding on. However, Wladimir immediately came back with a huge left hook that separated Pulev from his senses in knocking him flat.
Pulev made a mistake in the fight by not keeping his left hand high to protect his chin. This enabled Wladimir to nail him with left hooks and occasional right hands. Pulev should have known better after he was put down twice in the 1st round. He was holding his left way out in front of him and waiving it in circles in an attempt to disrupt Wladimir’s offensive rhythm. It may have worked for Pulev to a certain extent, but it also left him wide open for every left hook that Wladimir threw in the fight.
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