number1contender.net

ESPN Boxing Special Recap

 

March 21, 2009

Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle-Stuttgart, Germany

 

 

 

WBC Heavyweight (200+ pounds) 12-Round Championship Match:

Dr. Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KO's, 249 pounds) (c) vs. Juan Carlos Gomez (44-1, 1 NC, 35 KO's, 230 pounds)

 

Klitschko won this title in his last match from Samuel Peter via technical knockout victory at 3:00 of round 8 on October 11, 2008 at the 02 World Arena in Berlin, Germany. The Ukrainian used his superior speed and conditioning to land numerous power punches on Peter in every round. Finally after round 8, an exhausted and mentally beaten Peter surrendered the title by quitting on his stool. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/3/21/recap-of-vitali-klitschko-vs-samuel-peter.html Klitschko is making his first defense of this title.

 

The champion had a good amateur boxing career that began as a young age in the USSR. Klitschko has become injury prone later in life and much of that is believed to be a result of that early amateur boxing career as part of the Soviet boxing system. The Soviet trainers were giving their athletes heavy doses of steroids starting at a very young age, and despite the fact Klitschko has never admitted to using steroids many of the injuries Klitschko has suffered are consistent with early steroid abuse. In particular, Klitschko and several other former Soviet heavyweights have had chronic back problems, which is a common problem for the athletes who came out of East Germany and the Soviet Union who started using steroids early in life.

 

This is the first heavyweight championship match ever aired live on an ESPN network. HBO and Showtime declined to air this match. However, the holder of both a PhD in sports medicine and philosophy from Kiev University could have made more money by running this match as a small scale pay-per-view. Instead, Klitschko and his people have decided to run it on ESPN for a lot less money. They are hoping the much wider exposure will make Klitschko more marketable in the future. For their plan to work, Klitschko must win with an exciting knockout. Anything other then a Klitschko knockout win would make this event somewhat of a failure. However, this is airing live on ESPNClassic with an immediate replay on ESPN2. That makes the event already somewhat of a failure, already. This match was supposed to air live on ESPN, but the match was pushed back an hour to accommodate German television. That forced the live airing to ESPNClassic which is seen in millions of fewer homes then ESPN.

 

Klitschko is The Ring magazine's number 2 contender to their vacant Heavyweight Championship.

Gomez a native of Cuba who grew up wanting to be a baseball player. However, the communist Cuban government forced Gomez to become a boxer. The Cuban government appears to be a very good judge of boxing talent, because Gomez had a long and decorated amateur boxing career. Competing in the 165 pound division, Gomez won the World Junior Championships in 1990. In 1994, Gomez defeated future Olympic bronze medalist, Antonio Tarver, in a dual-meet with the United States. Gomez would go on to amass an amateur record of at least 158-12, before defecting.

 

The Cuban is receiving this title shot, because he is the mandatory contender. Gomez was a very successful boxer at 200 pounds. There he won the WBC 200-pound title and made 10 consecutive defenses of the belt. At 200 pounds, Gomez defeated some solid opposition. However as a heavyweight, Gomez has no quality wins. The biggest win Gomez has as a heavyweight is a 12-round unanimous decision victory over a past his prime Oliver McCall on October 19, 2007 at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Germany. Additionally, some boxing experts believe the Cuban is carrying far too much weight to compete at heavyweight, because the boxer is essentially a blown-up 200-pounder. Former heavyweight champion, Chris Byrd, believes Gomez would be most effective weighing 205 pounds, even at heavyweight and that the additional 25 pounds the Cuban is carrying on his frame is useless girth that makes the Cuban slower. Gomez weighed under 190 pounds in his last 5 matches before moving up to heavyweight. They were all title matches and the Cuban won all of them by knockout. Coming in at over 222 pounds in his last 3 matches, Gomez has gone to 12-round decisions in all of those matches against generally mediocre opposition.

 

Gomez' last match was a 12-round unanimous decision over Vladimir Virchis on September 27, 2008 at the Color Line Arena in Hamburg, Germany.

 

Gomez is The Ring's number 9 contender at heavyweight. 

At 35-years-old, Gomez is 2 years younger then the 37-year-old Klitschko. Klitschko has the height advantage standing 6' 7.5" tall, while Gomez stands 6' 3.5" tall. Gomez has the reach advantage with an 80.5" wingspan, compared to the 79" wingspan of Klitschko. There are no unofficial weights on the boxers approaching match time. However, they are unlikely to have changed much since the official weigh-ins, meaning Klitschko will be the much heavier boxer in the ring. The champion will employ the orthodox stance, and the challenger will box out of the southpaw stance.

 

The unified rules of boxing are in effect for this match. The awful "innovation" that is open scoring is being used in this match, but is not being relayed to the audience in the United States. The breaks in between rounds are normally longer then the standard 1-minute on major matches in Germany to allow for German commercial breaks. The judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from the United States, United Kingdom and Japan. The referee is Daniel Van de Wiele. Teddy Atlas will keeping ESPN's unofficial scorecard.

 

Atlas and Brian Kenny are calling this match off the German satellite feed from ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut. This is leading to some horrible audio issues. Atlas and Kenny sound fine, but the sound from the arena has been turned way down destroying the atmosphere of the match.

 

Gomez starts fast and easily wins round 1, 10-9. The more aggressive Gomez wins a close round 2, 10-9. In round 2, Klitschko landed with several hard right hands, but the Cuban's response was to charge the tall Ukrainian throwing a flurry of his own. Not all of those punches landed, but it was good enough to win the round. Klitschko is able to keep Gomez on the outside more in round 3. That allows Klitschko to win a very close round 3, 10-9. After 3 rounds, Gomez leads on my scorecard, 29-28. Atlas scored round 1 for Gomez, 10-9. Then Atlas scored both rounds 2 and 3 for Klitschko, both by the same score of 10-9. That has Klitschko leading on the Atlas scorecard after 3 rounds, 29-28.

 

In round 4, Gomez' right eye has started to swell from being hit by repeated left jabs. Klitschko solidly wins round 4, 10-9. Atlas scores round 4 for Klitschko, 10-9. With over 2:30 to go in round 5, Gomez has been cut near his right eye. The cut was probably caused by an accidental clash of heads. Klitschko easily wins round 5 on Atlas' and my scorecard, 10-9. Gomez is starting to appear very warn down and that he may be knocked out sometime in the next 3 rounds. A close up on Gomez in the corner shows the boxer is cut in a bad spot. The Cuban is cut on his eyelid towards the outside of his right eye. In round 5, the cut must have been streaming blood directly into Gomez' eye inhibiting his vision. Gomez' corner did a very good job on the cut during the break, and it is not bleeding as the challenger walks out to start round 6. With 1:40 to go in round 6, Gomez goes stumbling to the canvas. However, it was a slip aided by a slight push to the back of the head by Klitschko. The referee correctly rules it a slip and the action is resumed with 1:32 to go in the round. A large part of the reason Gomez went down there is because the challenger is tired. Gomez does not appear to have the conditioning to go another 6+ rounds with the Ukrainian. With around 20 seconds to go in round 6, Klitschko has a cut in his hairline that begins to trickle blood down the champion's forehead. There was Vaseline in Klitschko's hair coming out of at least the last break between rounds, meaning the cut has been there for a little while. It was clearly caused by an accidental clash of heads. The blood is dripping down Klitschko's forehead toward his right eye. However, it does not appear to be running directly into the boxer's eye and effecting his vision. Klitschko dominates round 6 to win it on Atlas' and my scorecard, 10-9. After 6 rounds, the champion leads on my scorecard, 58-56. Klitschko is ahead on Atlas' scorecard after 6 rounds, 59-55.

 

To open round 7, Klitschko's cut man, the excellent Jacob "Stitch" Duran, has gotten the bleeding stopped. It is not in a place that a tall boxer should get hit. Therefore, unless Klitschko drops his head in a clinch, the cut should not bleed anymore. A huge right hand from Klitschko with 1:18 to go in round 7, causes Gomez to turn his back and go down in somewhat of a delayed reaction with 1:14 to go in the round. Gomez is up quickly once he hits the canvas and will be able to continue. The action is resumed with exactly 1 minute to go in round 7. A badly hurt Gomez uses a "Takayama takedown" to bring boxers to the ground out of a clinch with 36 seconds to go in round 7. That may allow Gomez to survive the round, because the champion was landing a series of huge right hands. A few seconds earlier, Klitschko had Gomez trapped in the corner and was seriously thinking about stopping the match. The referee rules it a slip and has the action restarted with 28 seconds to go still in round 7. Gomez barely makes it out of round 7, as Klitschko had the challenger pinned in a corner as the bell sounded to end round 7. The Takayama takedown, probably saved Gomez from being stopped in round 7. Some judges could score that illegal takedown Gomez used to survive round 7, as a second knockdown giving the champion the round 10-7. However, Klitschko probably only wins the round, 10-8. Klitschko also wins round 8 on the Atlas scorecard, 10-8. To open round 8, Klitschko has both hands down completely at his sides. The champion senses the finish of the match is at hand and he needs to deliver the highlight reel knockout. Gomez turned his back to Klitschko with around 20 seconds to go in round 8 with apparent thoughts of quitting, but Klitschko spun the challenger around, wanting the decisive finish. Klitschko wins round 8, 10-9. The Ukrainian was not overly dominant in round 8, but it was a borderline 10-8 round, because Gomez turning his back could be scored like a knockdown. Atlas does score round 8 for Klitschko, 10-8. Gomez is mentally and physically beat at this point and may quit in the corner. However, the challenger is going to come out for round 9. This is probably the last round, though. The referee should be looking to stop this match quickly if Gomez gets in trouble. Also, Gomez' corner should be thinking about throwing in the towel if their charge gets in serious trouble at this point. With 2:20 to go in round 9, Gomez takes a series of hard punches from Klitschko, clinches, then turns away from the action when the referee calls for the break. There is now a bad cut over the left eye of Gomez. It appears to have been caused by an unintentional clash of heads. However, Klitschko landed a left hand to that area as Gomez came charging at the champion. Without calling timeout, the referee is taking a point from Klitschko, possibly for headbutting. That is a terrible call, because Gomez was the one who went charging in and initiated the headbutt. Klitschko was simply standing there, while Gomez ran his head into Klitschko's chin. That means the referee is ruling the cut was caused by an intentional clash of heads. Therefore, if the match has to be stopped because of that cut, Klitschko would lose his title by disqualification. Strangely, the referee did not have the doctor check the cut. That is the worst call against a hometown boxer in a recap, so far. It does not appear Klitschko was even issued a warning for recklessly using his head, before being deducted the point. Since time was never called, the action is resumed with 1:51 still to go in round 9. Then with 1:46 to go still in round 9, Klitschko lands a huge right hand that drops Gomez to the canvas for the second time in this match. The referee is going to put in a count, but the challenger is probably not getting up from this knockdown. Gomez does make it up by the referee's 8-count and is allowed to continue with 1:34 to go in the round. There is almost no chance that Gomez makes it out of this round. With 44 seconds to go in round 9, Gomez turned his back on Klitschko to run. Doing that the challenger got his right arm caught in the ropes. That allowed Klitschko to land a few free left hands, which forced the referee to stop the match. The referee probably should have stopped it sooner and Gomez' corner definitely should have thrown in the towel before the referee decided to stop it.

 

The official outcome courtesy of the legendary Michael Buffer is that: at 1:48 or 1:49 of round 9 the referee has called a stop to this contest, making the winner by technical knockout and still WBC Heavyweight Champion of the World, "Dr. Ironfist" Vitali Klitschko. (The real clock was apparently stopped for Klitschko to be deducted the point, but not the ESPN clock.) The open scoring revealed that after round 4, Klitschko was winning on all of the judges' scorecards: 39-37, 40-36, 40-36. The win move Klitschko to 37-2 with now 36 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Klitschko said in his post-match interview that he wants the remaining heavyweight title that is not held by a Klitschko. Due to convoluted boxing politics that one title is being held by both Nikolai Valuev and Ruslan Chagaev. Klitschko said he wants Valuev.

 

The champion was excellent in this match. Klitschko wanted to deliver a showcase performance in this match and he did. Klitschko's next match is another mandatory title defense, this time against Oleg Maskaev. Klitschko is appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to get to face an opponent of his choice over Maskaev, since there is very little interest in a Klitschko-Maskaev match. Valuev and Chagaev are going to be forced to face each other to unify their belt. That makes them unavailable to face Klitschko for several months. With David Haye likely to face Vitali's brother Wladimir (see below), the biggest money match available for Vitali would be Chris Arreola, who is considered the best young heavyweight in the United States. A match between Vitali and Arreola probably could draw a very good crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada or at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York and would be picked up by HBO or Showtime. However, as boxing writer Kieran Mulvaney has pointed out Arreola could not spell defense if you spotted him the "d" and the "fense". Additionally, Mulvaney has noted that the hefty Arreola seems to spell training B-U-F-F-E-T. That means it would be a match that could draw money, but not necessarily the toughest test of the Ukrainian's skills.

 

Gomez was completely over-matched by Klitschko. The Cuban apparently did try to quit after round 8, but his trainer convinced the boxer to go out for round 9. That was a bad mistake by the trainer. That is a mistake so severe, that the trainer should possibly be fired for making it. Gomez is a natural 200-pounder and a very good one. The lack of depth at heavyweight can probably keep Gomez in contention for title shots for years. However, his conditioning in this match was poor. If Gomez insists on staying at heavyweight he would be best off losing some weight and being an even smaller heavyweight. Even at 230 pounds, Gomez still possesses very little power by the standards of the division and has sacrificed his speed and conditioning by bulking up so much.

 

 

 

This was a good heavyweight match that should be replayed numerous times. It is a recommended watch when not opposite the NCAA basketball tournament.