5 thoughts after reviewing the Klitschko/Pulev fight.

1. I didn't realize Pulev initiated so many of the clinches himself. The Povetkin fight was still leaving a bad taste in my mouth and it's all I was thinking about when they clinched almost immediately. "Here we go again." Wlad actually did not clinch excessively in this fight, the way I saw it the second time. I was wrong.

2. This was a lot less sloppy and more entertaining than I thought it was when I saw it the first time with friends. I had actually showed them some clips I'd put together of Gonzalez/Yaegashi right before the fight and maybe between that and dreading the potential for Povetkin II, I wasn't appreciating this one the way it was. This was a very decent, scrappy fight even if it was sloppy at times with the long limbs tangling up. And not only was it a decent fight period but for a heavyweight fight and a heavyweight fight involving Wladimir? You're not likely to get much better under those circumstances.

3. People are picking on Pulev's rabbit punches. I'm not. I consider myself a fan of Klitschko in terms of his overall career even if I've been getting tired of him in recent years but I have been saying the only way to fight Wlad for real is to use dirty tactics if you're any of these contenders. Otherwise, the gap is too wide in class. That's the only way I think they can have success is to use anything in the bag of tricks. Klitschko smothers you even when he doesn't clinch you by moving into your space and giving you the back of his head so it's almost impossible to pull back and fire anything with any real leverage that is a legal blow. He's very clever that way. Yeah it's dirty to punch a guy in the back of the head. No question. It's dirty and dangerous. But I'm not going to pick on a guy for using dirt in a sport like this to his advantage when it's also dirty and dangerous to have a guy lay on your back and neck. You do what you've got to do.

Wlad's clinch and lean, Lennox's clinch and lean, Tyson's arm locks and punching after the bell and Holyifield's headbutts. The big winners know how to fight dirty-ESPECIALLY when they're not able to get it clean. I said repeatedly after the Povetkin fight that if Povetkin was smart he'd have brought some dirt to Klitschko and very few people would've begrudged him some ball punches or something to turn the tide while he was getting his back broken. This isn't a tickling match it's a fight. Pulev made a good tactical decision among very few last night to get something-to get *anything* over Klitschko. Dirty but tactically, I think that was the right call. Maybe the only one he made.

4. Pulev will be badly underrated now because he didn't do a half of what Povetkin did by going the distance. But his whole style was so damned wrong for Klitschko I'm not surprised or disappointed in any way. He's still a very good heavyweight contender. But everything he normally does beside knowing how to get dirty was about everything that I think is practically useless against Wlad unless you are a really great fighter, which only Wlad at heavyweight is right now. No shame in that. If you're not great but you want a win over Klitschko, you have to match up with him well or you're another idiot looking for one big punch that never comes-and you probably have to bend or break the rules too and go as far as the ref allows you too.

5. This fight was pretty great for Klitschko's career. Almost all the best opponents he's had at the earliest/best time he's fought them have gone the distance with him. Either they ran away or Wlad clinched them down or a combination of the two and Wlad sensibly chose to win first and any kind of entertainment had to take a back seat. Think about it.

Byrd I, Peter I, Haye, Ibragimov and Povetkin- almost all the very top of his resume are decisions even though he's got crazy power in both hands. This knockout was the best thing that he could've done in the best way. An HBO first-half devastation of his number one contender that seems to have completely p*ssed him off in the lead up and at the age of 38. Unless he gets a clean win to seal the WBC title, I think this is going to have to be his sweetest career moment. I really think there's a good chance this was Wlad's last hurrah in a way. That's not me predicting doom for him, only me saying there's a very big chance that this late in the game he's not going to get another good looking win over a top rated guy because it's more normal that when he wins a big one it's a stinker. History says that. Only Chagaev and Thompson on his best wins list (my opinion) ended inside the distance and most of the Thompson fight was kind of ugly at that while Chagaev didn't end dramatically (much prettier performance throughout but anticlimactic finish in the corner). I bet Pulev is the last big one where everything comes together. I hope not but I think the odds say so.

Any thoughts? Anyone else feel the same way that Wlad washed the taste of Povetkin away and maybe had the fandom rejuvenated a little bit? This is the first time since maybe Chagaev that I've been pretty happy for Wlad and kind of proud of his performance against a top guy.

 

Thanks, everyone who bothered reading my post. I've been accused of being long winded in my threads before. Nice to know some people have the attention span still, agree or disagree.