By Scott Gilfoid: Wladimir Klitschko’s brother Vitali Klitschko was less than happy with him tonight in watching IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir (64-4, 53 KOs) lose his world titles to a very, very limited Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight televised by Sky Box Office.
Vitali kept questioning Wladimir in between rounds, saying “I don’t understand” why he wasn’t throwing punches. Vitali gave Fury some credit by saying he was a little bit better, which sadly was true. Fury was better, but not much better.
They both looked awful tonight in this 12 round fight at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fury got the win by the narrow scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111. But many of the rounds were very close due to neither guy landing anything remotely resembling clean-landing punches.
Fury was docked a point in the 11th round for hitting Wladimir behind the head. But Fury was fortunate that he didn’t have more points deducted because he’d been hitting Wladimir behind the head with shots throughout the fight, and he was also punching Wladimir when he had his back turned to him.
Vitali says that Wladimir didn’t prepare properly for the fight, and that he’ll be better in the rematch. I do agree that Wladimir wasn’t properly ready for the fight, because he looked like he didn’t’ feel comfortable throwing any punches in the fight.
“Fury was a tad better. We need to analyze it, but Wladimir will come back much stronger” Vitali said via Fightnews.com. “Wladimir waited far too long. You must be active, risk more in the infighting. Tyson is just a good boxer. He has an unorthodox style and Wladimir didn’t do his homework.”
I don’t know that Wladimir will be any better in the rematch with Fury next year. Wladimir’s problem looks more related to age than to a strategy problem. He fights like a heavyweight that no longer has the ability to throw punches even when he sees an opening. To me, that’s an age problem. I just don’t think that Wladimir aged as well as his brother Vitali for some reason. When Vitali was 40, he was still able to fight at a high level. That’s not the case with Wladimir in my view.
The sad thing is Fury is in his prime, and he looked absolutely terrible. I mean, if this is the best that Fury can do in his prime, then what does that tell you about Fury?
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