By Dave Lahr: It’s no secret that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s) is likely to clinch his opponent Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) for all he’s worth in their title fight on September 11th, at the Commerzbank-Arena, in Frankfurt, Germany. The 34-year-old Klitschko will be looking to do his utmost to prevent the power-punching Peter from landing his sledgehammer blows and the best way that Wladimir can do that is to clinch early and clinch often to keep Peter’s offense sidelined. Obviously, it’s the judge of the referee to step in and warn, penalize or disqualify Wladimir once his clinching has gone to the extreme levels.

But since the fight will be taking place in Klitschko’s adopted country of Germany, I can’t see Wladimir getting any kind of warnings and certainly no penalizations for his constant clinching. In that case, Peter will have to take matters in his own hands and stop Wladimir with his fists rather than hoping that the referee will do his job and enforce the rules of boxing. Wladimir’s last opponent Eddie Chambers attempted to get Wladimir to stop clinching by picking him up at one point early in the fight to slam him down on the canvas. That was Chamber’s failed attempt to keep Wladimir off of him.

It didn’t work and it was a poor plan. That’s not how you stop a fighter from draping himself on you 24/7. The best way to stop them from clinching is to keep pounding on them the entire time they hold onto you. I’m not talking love taps. You really got to tee off them with your hardest shots to make them want to let go of you. This is what Peter needs to do with Wladimir each time he tries to clinch. Peter needs to tag Wladimir in the side of the head as hard as he can and throw huge shots to Wladimir’s sides, midsection and whatever he can hit.

There’s no doubt that Wladimir will be holding on tight, but Peter will still be able to pound Wladimir with his free hand and hurt him in these clinches. This will make Wladimir think twice about grabbing Peter all the time. I think if Peter does this enough, Wladimir opt to run instead and eventually he’ll run out of gas like he did in his fights with Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster and be easy pickings for Peter knock out.