Wladimir Klitschko vs. Kubrat Pulev, Pre-Fight Analysis

The fight is scheduled for 15th November. It will take place O2 World Arena, Hamburg, Germany. Klitschko's undisputed heavyweight crown will be on the line.

Profiles

Wladimir Klitschko
Record: 62 wins (52 KO), 3 losses
Age: 38
Height: 198cm (6′ 6&#8243
Reach: 206cm (81&#8243
Weight: 112.3 kg (247.4 lbs) last fight weight

Kubrat Pulev
Record: 20 wins (11 KO), no losses
Age: 33
Height: 194cm (6′ 4½&#8243
Reach: 202cm (80&#8243
Weight: 115.1 kg (253.8 lbs) last fight weight

Background

Since Wladimir's traier Manny Steward passed away 2 years ago, Klitschko went to defend his title against Mariusz Wach, Francesco Pianeta, Alexander Povetkin and Alex Leapai. He dominated the slower Wach, scoring a shutout decision victory, seeming a little bit more aggressive than usual. Then he defeated Pianeta by 6th round TKO. While Pianeta actually got to Wladimir a few times, he was unable to do anything significant as the difference in skills and experience was too much. Wlad's next fight was Povetkin, a highly anticipated fight and the most expensive heavyweight match in a long time. The fight itself was very bad to watch, as there was a lot of holding and not much action during the rounds. However, Klitschko still managed to win a shutout victory and knock Sasha down several times. Klitschko vs. Leapai was a typical mismatch caused by the boxing organizations' policy. Wladimir won impressively, although Leapai wasn't really a championship level opponent.

Pulev's road to the championship fight pretty much started when he soundly defeated Alexander Dimitrenko, who was a highly regarded contender at the time. He stopped Dimitrenko in 11th round after went to the semi-final eliminator to determine the IBF #1 contender status against undefeated Alexander Ustinov. Pulev stopped Ustinov in 11th round, in the similar fashion to his previous fight. The next fight was supposed to determine who would be the IBF mandatory for the champion. Several guys were supposed to fight him but pulled out, such as Adamek, Tyson Fury and Jennings, which made Pulev an avoided fighter in the division. Eventually Tony Thompson accepted the fight, and Pulev managed to win it convincingly, becoming the mandatory challenger for Wladimir. After taking 2 tune-up fights against Abell and Perkovic, Kubrat is finally in for the biggest fight of his career.

Amateur experience


Both boxers have had relatively good amateur careers. Wladimir won silver at the European Championships in 1996, then went to win the Olympic gold medal in Atalanta a few months later. He turned pro the same year.

Pulev was a bronze medal winner at the World Championships in 2005 and European Championships a year later. He eventually went to win the European gold in Liverpool 2008. He didn't qualify for the Olympics in 2008.

Styles

Klitschko is obviously a safety first boxer. He prefers to control the course of the fight with his jab, which is one of the main weapons of his arsenal. He is great on the outside and his power prevents his opponents to be careless, therefore he usually controls the pace of the match from the outside until he is sure that his opponent is ready for taking. Wladimir also prefers to clinch instead of going backwards from the opponents' attacks. That makes him very hard to hit and usually frustrates the opponent. He is also known for his right hand and left hook, and with all of his punches being heavy, he usually comfortably knocks the opponent out if lured in Klitschko's game.

Pulev also prefers to fight on the outside, relying on his jab, footwork and movement, similar to Klitschko. Unlike Wladimir, Pulev often relies on the body punching to slow the opponent down and do the significant damage. He doesn't always necessarily hold when his opponent goes forward, but sometimes relies on that aspect of the game as well. We haven't seen him against a top level aggressive fighter yet, so it's a question mark about how he'd deal with that kind of pressure, but it likely won't matter in this fight as Klitschko is far from being an aggressive fighter.

Strengths and weaknesses

Considering the styles, both fighters usually rely on the similar assets. Klitschko has an extremely good jab, measures the distance very well, and those things alone nearly always give him big advantages over the opponents. He is also almost always the bigger and taller guy, therefore it's very hard to get to him. His right hard is very accurate and it's widely considered as one of the best in heavyweight history (alongside his jab as well). On the top of that, he has a powerful left hook, so virtually all of his shots carry the power to significantly damage the opponent. During the clinches, he uses every opportunity to put the weight on his opponent in order to eventually make him tired, so all of those stuff made him look virtually unbeatable during the past 10 years.
Just like any other fighter, Klitschko is not perfect. He is not comfortable fighting while going backwards against an aggressive opponent, therefore he often chooses to clinch instead. If the opponent is fast enough and has enough power, Klitschko could be in a really uncomfortable situation if being forced to step back, especially if the opponent is about his own size. Also, despite what some people may think, Klitschko is past his peak, and although he still seems pretty fast, he is slower than he used to be, and that could be a potential factor going into this fight.

As for Pulev, similar to Wladimir, he relies to his jab, footwork and distance control, which usually gives him significant advantages over the opponent. Although his punches are not as heavy as Wladimir's, he is still highly accurate and could reach Klitschko despite his good defense. As mentioned, he often throws big punches to the body, which also could find him some success in this fight. Pulev's reflexes are very good and he often relies on that even more than actually keeping the distance and strictly being out of the opponent's reach.
He often starts the fight relatively slowly, and that could perhaps lead to his downfall this time unless he changes the strategy. Pulev is also a lot easier to hit than Klitschko, due to his distance control not being as good as Wladimir's. Also, it would be very hard for him to outjab Wlad. He is shorter, but actually heavier than Klitschko, which could potentially reflect on his speed. Also, count on the weight to help him during the eventual clinches is not a good thing, but that's going too far as it's unknown which strategy will Pulev try to rely on.

Outcome

Considering the styles of both boxers, it would be expected to see a chess match with both boxers trying to win the outside game. I would give Wladimir the advantage in that department, but it remains to be seen if Pulev is going to jab against the jabber or perhaps try something else. I don't think that we are going to see an explosive fight from start to finish. It's more likely to expect both guys relying on their usual game, which I believe will bring Wladimir the advantage. Either way, this is definitely a must see.

Feel free to present your own opinions and expectations.