IBO Boxing Honesty and Integrity
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Somewhere along the line Tyson Fury’s mind games and colorful displays of confidence cracked the psychological invincibility of Wladimir Klitschko – and their fight tonight in Dusseldorf Germany reflected this exactly.
Fury continued to taunt and mock Klitschko inside the ring during the anthems and introductions and it showed Fury was not bluffing and pretending these last few months or this past week – he really did have the belief and desire and strategies to defeat the champion. These patterns continued into the actual fight – Fury physically showed Klitschko that his confidence and desire were not illusions – they were actual. Credit to Fury – he figured this out and executed it – as well as the tactics of variety of movements and punches and stances were the way to confuse Klitschko who has been very successful for over a decade with – let’s face it – a very VERY effective but basic one dimensional style of jab – right to the head – or add a left hook – hold – and repeat over and over and over. What Fury was doing to Klitschko – showing him so many new looks and offensive creativity (as well as a tremendous demeanor of confidence and even arrogance), Klitschko was unable to break that rhythm and tempo of the fight – or come up with any ideas or plan B’s to offset was Fury was doing to him.
There were signs that Klitschko was a fading force at 39 – he did not look impressive in his previous defense earlier this year against Bryant Jennings – his punches landed on the mediocre American challenger but they did not have the usual snap. Also bringing in brother Vitali to camp to help with sparring was a signal that suggested a hint of desperation – and that there were serious concerns about Fury’s arsenal his size and his skillset. At 39 Klitschko is at the age when many previous great champions had already began to decline or lost a fraction of their reflexes and their desire. Despite all the taunting and mocking and insults by Fury which should have added to his motivation – it still did not spark Wladimir nearly enough – it was clearly Fury who wanted to win this fight a lot more than Klitschko and he showed it with his punch output and his physical energy. Klitschko looked borderline helpless at times – like Joe Louis vs Rocky Marciano – Dempsey vs Tunney – Tyson vs Danny Williams – Holyfield vs Ibragimov – Liston vs Clay – the flaming inferno of drive and desire was now a mere flicker.
If there’s a rematch I think it will be the exact same fight – Fury has solved the Klitschko puzzle – and the look of frustration in Klitschko’s body language and face after the fight looked a lot like a former champion who realized and accepts the reign is over.
I don’t see a long reign for Fury – he’s more of a flash in the pan type – a transition champion like Buster Douglas Sonny Liston or George Foreman – but he will always be remembered and respected for the historic performance he displayed in Dusseldorf Germany – to dethrone one of the greatest and most dominant Heavyweight champions in the history of boxing. – Scoop Malinowski ..
