By Dave Lahr: It’s terrible to get old in the sport of boxing. When fighters get old, they get the stuffing beaten out of them and it has a way of making boxing fans completely forget about all the good the fighter may accomplished earlier in their career. This is why I’m worried that WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (41-2, 38 KO’s) is about to tarnish his legacy by taking a major whipping by the younger, faster and superior boxer Odlanier Solis (17-0, 12 KO’s) on March 19th in Cologne, Germany.
Klitschko, 39, has been showing signs of age in his past three fights to the point where he can longer throw right hands without getting nailed due to the time it takes for him to land his shots. The old reflexes just aren’t there for Vitali anymore, and he’s been reduced to just jabbing and throwing short left hooks. Vitali is just getting by with his height and reach right now, and coasting against the inferior opposition that he’s been put in with. But the age for Vitali. It’s something you can’t ignore going into this fight.
The signs of aging – the loss of reflexes, the diminished hand speed and the inability to block incoming right hands – are all there for Vitali. This fight is coming at the worst possible time for Vitali, because Solis is the best fighter that he’s faced perhaps since his fight with Lennox Lewis. Now if this fight were to have happened then, I’d say Vitali would have a great chance of winning it, but not now. Vitali is too old, too slow and too lethargic to beat the young Solis.
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