With all the heavy shit going down in the Ukraine, Vitali Klitschko could be excused if he’s a bit distracted going into tonight’s 12-round heavyweight title bout. Good thing for Klitschko, then, that his opposition is Danny Williams, a plodding British slugger whose sole calling card was the beating delivered to the clearly past his prime Mike Tyson. Emmanual Stewart says he’s not sold on Klitschko, stating that the champ’s only claim to fame was his encounter with Lennox Lewis. All things considered, I think scaring Lewis into retirement is more of an accomplishment than beating the guy Lewis should’ve scared into retirement. Max Boxing’s Jason Probst picks Klitschko to retain the belt.
First off, Klitschko (above) should establish his jab. Williams, at 6™1, is a wide swinging sort with decent power, and he™ll be faced with the task of having to kill Klitschko™s body to slow him down. Short jabs, mixed in with good crosses and feints, will keep the Briton off-balance and disrupt his rhythm.
In close, few fighters have been able to do much with Klitschko, as he simply ties them up in his long limbs and snuffs out any possibility of inside trading. Williams has to fight from the inside to be effective, because unlike Lennox Lewis, he can™t stand at range and toss off head-rattling shots. He™ll never get close to Klitschko unless he pays the price to cross the moat. And that price will be a prohibitive one.
That™s where Klitschko is going to be hard on Williams. Against Corrie Sanders, Klitschko found himself caught time and again by Sanders™ quick left hands, that came from odd angles and often while Sanders seemed to be ready to cave. Williams is pretty much a textbook righty and his delivery is far less confusing. Klitschko will be able to pull back with relative efficiency to avoid Williams™ headshots, or deflect the incoming lobs with his arms. And if Williams bum-rushes to get inside, he™ll get clubbed hard for the effort.
(Postscript : All credit to Danny Williams — he not only knows how to take a punch to the face, he’s pretty good at taking several hundred punches to the face. Not much good at anything else, sadly. )