By Dave Lahr: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) basically clinched his way to victory five years ago against Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s). With Wladimir basically draping himself all over Peter like a huge Siberian Tiger rug, Peter had to deal with almost nonstop clinching. It was impossible for Peter to get any daylight to throw his power shots in the fight. The referee would separate Pete and Wladimir, and then after Wladimir would land a shot, he’s immediately grab Peter in a clinch to prevent him from returning fire. To Peter’s credit, he was still able to knock Wladimir down three times in the fight and probably would have knocked Wladimir out had the referee been able to pull Wladimir off of Peter after the 3rd knockdown in the 11th.
In their rematch on September 11th at the Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany, Peter will again be looking to take Wladimir’s head off with every shot. If the referee does his job and keeps Wladimir honest by not allowing him to clinch all night long, then I see Peter stopping Wladimir within six rounds. I have no problems with an occasional clinch every now and then. I think it’s perfectly acceptable for fighters to have four or five clinches per round, but when you beyond that it become more of a crutch for some fighters to stifle the offense of the other fighter. At that point, it’s the job of the referee to step in and put to stop to it first with warnings and then with penalizations.
If the warnings and the points taken away aren’t enough to correct the behavior of the fighter that’s clinching constantly, then I think they should then be disqualified. In looking at a replay of the Samuel Peter vs. Wladimir Klitschko fight in 2005, I think Wladimir should have been penalized in every round of the fight, and of course disqualified if he didn’t change his ways. However, Wladimir was able to get away with all the clinching and that just wasn’t right. If I was Peter’s manager and promoter, I would have been screaming at the referee from the 1st round on and making myself heard about Wladimir’s excessive clinching. Without the clinching, I think Peter would have knocked Wladimir out early in the fight.
I really hope the referee does his job this time and starts taking off points from Wladimir early in the fight to get him to stop hugging Peter all night long. I want to see a fight, not some kind of stall tactic. It’s not fair for Peter, it’s not fair for the promoters and it’s not fair for boxing fans that have to see that kind of display from a champion. If Wladimir’s brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko was able to beat Peter without clinching, then Wladimir should be able to as well. After all, people always say that Wladimir is the better athlete compared to his brother Vitali. If that’s the case, then Wladimir should be able to beat Peter without resorting to hugging him all night long to keep him from punching back.
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