By Jeff Aranow: 40-year-old former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) is trying every training strategy he can get turn back the hands of time to get him ready for his rematch against IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) on July 9 at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
Besides swimming and his normal boxing routines, Wladimir is now working out in the Cryosauna. It’s a low temperature sauna that helps decrease inflammation. It could help a fighter like Wladimir to recover from his workouts. That would appear to be the theory behind it.
You can argue that would be the equivalent of having a short ice bath to decrease inflammation after a heavy workout. With Wladimir using cryosauna, it makes you wonder whether he has an injury that he’s trying to deal with.
Wladimir’s problems in his loss to Fury in November 2015 in Dusseldorf, Germany, were not related to conditioning in any way. It was more of a mental thing for Wladimir. He would not throw punches when he needed to in his 12 round unanimous decision loss to Fury. Wladimir’s conditioning appeared to be good like always. He would not throw punches because he seemed to distrust his ability to land, and he was hesitant to get countered by Wladimir.
“I made a mistake, I’m embarrassed by it. You think you really know what cold is? Cryosauna, -150C gives you one of the best recoveries for your body and mind,” said Wladimir as quoted by skysports.com. “In the first weeks of camp, I concentrate on basic training as always. Other than the classic Rocky Balboa-style workouts common in boxing, I integrate a lot of cycling and swimming into my schedule. The focus and motion of these two sports are perfect for building up physical and mental strength.”
Wladimir needs to focus on strategy of using his right hand more in the rematch, because that seems to be his best weapon to use against Fury. Wladimir needs to be brave enough to use his right hand, and he needs to make sure he uses it frequently.
It won’t help Wladimir if he only throws a few right hands each round like he was doing in his previous fight against Fury last year. Fury was emboldened by Wladimir not letting his hands go. Initially, Fury started off slow and very cautious in the first three rounds of the bout. But as soon as Fury realized that Wladimir was reluctant to throw any punches with conviction, he then started to become more aggressive by throwing more shots.
Fury’s punches had little on them, as he seemed to be afraid of getting countered by one of Wladimir’s left hooks. However, Fury threw enough shots to win the rounds and build up a lead in the first half of the contest. Fury then coasted the rest of the way by doing just enough to win by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-112, 116-111 and 115-112.
Fury, 27, is still trying to take off weight that he put on after his win over Wladimir last year. Fury came into training camp 60 pounds overweight. While that kind of weight might seem like a lot to most fighters, it’s not been a big deal for Fury, as he’s taken most of the weight off quickly, and he’s expected to be in as good of shape as always when he meets Wladimir next month on July 9. The only thing that we don’t know is if Fury will be weakened from having taken the weight off. Losing 60 pounds in training camp could weaken Fury enough for Wladimir to overpower him in this fight.
Fury, 6’9”, isn’t a big puncher anyway, but he might be even less so after taking the weight off. It might not matter though. If Wladimir is afraid to throw punches again like he was last time, Fury could bluff his way to a victory by making Wladimir cautious by using a lot of feints to give him the impression he’s going to get hit. Fury used a lot of feints against Wladimir last November, and this resulted in Wladimir holding back and not letting his hands go. For Wladimir to be successful against Fury in the rematch, he’ll need to be willing to take whatever shots Fury throws in order for him to land his own punches and get him out of there.