Both fighters are very narrowly defined. Mike Tyson was a fighter who was defined almost entirely by his great strengths. Speed of hand and feet, punching power, good chin defined Mike's fight plan, more and more, in fact, the more experienced he got in boxing (a rare regressing fighter). Anyway, if you could smother Mike, or find some way to keep him at range, he would have trouble because there was no plan B. His narrowly defined plan is one of many reasons why his prime would always be short. Tyson was an easy fighter to solve, it was just a question of finding someone with the balls and the ability to do, not an easy task, but one that Buster Douglas was able to solve. Wlad Klitschko, too, is a narrowly defined fighter. He has limited inside game, fails to show aggression in keeping with his physical abilities, and most of all, HAS to control range and pace, and be seen to control it. But unlike Tyson, Wlad is defined by his weaknesses rather than his strengths. His style is every bit as rigid as Mike Tyson's, but for the opposite reasons. Wlad has excellent power, and punches accurately and with authority. He has a great jab, and a great overhand right, the foundation of any great offence. However, unlike Mike Tyson, he doesn't have devastating speed, or great punch resistance. Klitschko lost two fights, due in part to this weakness in his chin, and sine then his style has been altered. He used to fight inside, but now he tries to avoid it. He used to fight at altered tempos, now he doesn't do that - until he feels it is "time", which also happens to be 2-9 rounds after the rest of us think it is "time". Like Lennox Lewis, Wlad is a puncher with a boxer's style, but unlike Lewis (against Grant, for example), this version of Klit doesn't have proven adaptablility. Secondly, Klitschko has shown a lack of stamina, and now fights like a fighter that lacks stamina. So we see he is nervous to commiting a great deal of energy to the attack early in the fight because he is worried he may gas later in the fight - so he fights to control the tempo. Klitschko fights to conrol speed and range, to avoid being forced to commit to much energy, and fights at range to avoid shipping shots to a puncher capable of KOing him. This is why he rellies so heavily upon the one two, the hardest combination to counter, and sometimes the jab almost alone. This is frustrating for people, and it turns them against Wlad, but that is grossly unfair. People who want Wlad to fight in such a way that he is more vulnerable to attacks and to losing. What kind of boxer is going to do that?! People loved Tyson for his style, even after he had been convicted of **** he was hugely popular, Wlad has the appearance of a very decent man who fights in a certain style, one that suits his pysical limitations more snugly than any other style of fighting. It is unique, and it is his, and I wish more people would learn to enjoy it. It's excellent, and it's evolution is fascinating. In the meantime, we have a very, very difficult puzzle to crack - one that is more difficult that the Tyson puzzle IMO, even if the solution, in theory, is easier to find (hit him hard on the chin), one that is fascinating, and possibly won't be solved.
