by Dave Lahr: Emanuel Steward, the trainer for IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (54-3, 48 KO’s), may be whistling past the graveyard as he came out today with a bold knockout prediction for Wladimir against former WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter (34-3, 27 KO’s) in their bout on September 11th at the Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany. In the media conference call today, Steward said “I see a knockout in five or six rounds, and that’s stretching it.” I agree with Steward. I see a knockout in the 5th or 6th rounds as well, but I see the 29-year-old Peter being the one doing the knocking out and not Wladimir.

I think Wladimir’s heavyweight reign is basically over. Peter has improved enough to the point where he should take care of Wladimir fairly easily and deal with his tricks in the ring by beating him senseless. Last time they fought five years ago, Wladimir ran all night long to try and stay away from Peter’s heavy shots. When Wladimir wasn’t running, he was clinching constantly. Peter, then still fairly green and inexperienced, allowed Klitschko to get a way with a massive amount of clinching without tagging him.

This time, Peter is going to punish Wladimir severely for each clinch he attempts. Wladimir may be able to clinch but he’s going to get socked in the side of the head every time. I don’t expect Wladimir to be able to take more than a small handful of those big shots before he’s flopping around on the canvas like a big fish. If the referee is doing his job, he’ll penalize Wladimir for his clinching once it starts getting out of hand like it did last time they fought in 2005.

Steward has taught Wladimir well and turned him into another Lennox Lewis with all the clinching he does. But Lewis never fought anyone that knew how to defeat a clinch like Peter, and he was able to get away with during his career. Wladimir won’t be able to get away with clinching and his skinny legs won’t be strong enough to carry him around the ring for 12 long rounds without tiring on him. Without being able to clinch, Wladimir is going to be in a bad way, because he’s not young enough to run for 12 rounds. He’s going to have to actually fight Peter and that’s where the problems start for Wladimir. He can’t fight Peter for 12 rounds without getting knocked out because he doesn’t have the chin for it.