Wladimir Klitschko Unaimous Decision Win Over Sultan Ibragimov!

This was originally posted on the Wladimir Klitschko Squidoo Lens Here

*February 23, 2008 Madison Square Garden Heavyweight Championship Boxing*

Last night at Madison Square Garden Wladimir Klitschko won a unanimous decision over Sultan Ibragimov. The fight started off very slow, with the 1st round having hardly any punches thrown. Wladimir kept stepping on Sultan's feet because of the nature of their respective stances of orthodox versus southpaw.

To sum it up Sultan fought defensively in his southpaw stance the whole night with a slight lean to make it harder for Wlad to land on him without stepping in. Wlad never stepped in as he stayed at a distance and used mostly his jab the whole fight. By the last few rounds 9 and beyond, and possibly under the advice of his trainer Emanuel Steward, Klitschko started pouring it on more than he was. He had what I would consider a knockdown in one these last round where the only thing supporting Sultan from falling was the ropes. He also had a couple other good exchanges.

To Sultans credit he did go 12 rounds with a guy who had one of the best KO percentages and did get in some good body shots, but it wasn't nearly enough to win any round in my opinion other than round 1 and possibly 6.

I have to admit I believe that the jab would be important and there might have been a possibility that this fight would go 12 rounds, but I was disappointed after watching the fight and realizing that Sultan did not even belong in the same ring with Wladimir and Wlad didn't capitalize on this and go in for the kill. I believe even in the 1st round Sultans constant pawing where Klitschko would knock down his arm each time was a sign that Sultan was hesitant and scared and was not trying to trick Klitschko (even if he was I don't think he has enough power to hurt him). If Wlad would have jumped on him then and fired ANYTHING I think the fight would have ended fast.

To alot of fight fans his stock drops for his reluctance to mix it up. I am a little biased since I'm a Klitschko fan and saw this as a good technical win, but even considering that I still was a little disappointed that he could have disposed of Sultan much quicker.

Despite this I congratulate Wladimir on his win. He now has the IBO, IBF, and WBO championship belts, which means his stock has gone up to other belt holders.