By Jason Kim: 32-year-old Mariusz Wach (27-0, 15 KO’s) is getting IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (58-3, 50 KO’s) at a really vulnerable time with his trainer Emanuel Steward having passed away this past week, leaving inexperienced heavyweight contender/sparring partner Johnathon Banks to tank over for Steward in the training of the 36-year-old Wladimir.

According to RingTV, Steward told Wladimir that he should have Banks take over the training for him. It sounds good but that still won’t result in Wladimir getting the same training expertise that Steward gave Wladimir. With Steward now gone, Wladimir won’t have that calming and expert advise in between rounds for the Wach fight to let him know what to do and getting Wladimir to calm down if he suddenly starts getting rattled from the huge right hands that Wach is bombing him with.

Banks is a good fighter, but he’s not worked the corner before and he’s going to be thrown into a situation where he could hurt Wladimir if he doesn’t give him the right instructions. Some boxing fans think the Wach-Wladimir fight will be a mismatch because of Wladimir’s superior boxing skills, speed and experience. However, things can go bad in an instant when facing a big puncher like Wach, and I can see Wladimir getting hurt and not knowing what to do.

Steward has always been really good at calming Wladimir down in between rounds and telling him the right thing to do. But will Banks, a younger fighter than Wladimir at 30 be able to command the same respect from Wladimir as the 68-year-old Steward was able to? I think not.

Steward wasn’t just older, but he had a long track record of training countless former world champions and that obviously made it easier to make himself heard. Wladimir would naturally respect, trust and listen to a trainer with that kind of rep compared to someone who had never trained anyone at all.