Vitali Klitschko Slays “The Dragon” in Ten to Retain his Title

Vitali Klitschko Slays “The Dragon” in Ten to Retain his Title

By Gabriel Montoya, MaxBoxing (May 30, 2010) Special to Doghouse Boxing

It was business as usual as heavyweight titleholder Vitali Klitschko, 40-2 (38), took his sweet time warming up to get the job done vs. game but overmatched Albert Sosnowski, 45-3-1 (27) at the Veltins Arena in Germany. It was a huge crowd as usual, close to 60,000; proof once again boxing is far from dead.

It was a tentative first round. Sosnowski, wearing trunks the color of a Lay’s Limon chips bag, stayed on the outside and jabbed a bit. Vitali wearing black with white knee socks, pawed a bit with that up-jab. They circled a lot, but not much landed for either. Safe to say there was more action in the opening act of "Hamlet." I gave the round to the champ off a couple jabs that landed barely.

Vitali walked down in the second as Sosnowski used the edges of the ropes then jabs and the occasional right came out of Sosnowski. Vitali tried to get his own right going but missed the mark until late in the round. Sosnowski had a bit of mouse under his right eye by round’s end.

The third was a better round for Sosnowski; a close round, in fact. Sosnowski got in his jab up and down and a nice left hook twice but Vitali used his right to the body and that up-jab while working in his right hand from long range. Sosnowski used an in-and-out movement style and had some success, but Vitali looked to be getting in the heavier shots.

In the fourth, Sosnowski appeared to be in the fight. Vitali was missing a lot more than usual due to the movement of the challenger. The jab of Sosnowski landed regularly and Vitali was having trouble finding him with all that movement. Not much heat, but more of a more of a hunt-and-peck style from Sosnowski who was proving to be a bit of puzzle. Vitali got off his left hook off the jab while Sosnowski used that jab and tried to get in his right hand. While Sosnowski was hard to hit, Vitali got in the jab and dropped in the right hand in grazing fashion, except for a one-two that backed up Sosnowski midway through. It became a closer fight than expected but Vitali was landing the more punishing shots.

Vitali ramped up the violence in this sixth round. He started to get that left hook dialed in and got it in off of Sosnowski’s duck move. Vitali landed a nice left right combo that shook Sosnowski a bit and the challenger’s offense began dropping off. He still had that jab, but the right hand was suddenly homeless.

By the final rounds of the fight, Vitali had begun zeroing in his shots. The jab and left hook were landing and Sosnowski seemed to be unable to move as he had before. Vitali took long enough to get zeroed in but he certainly succeeded in the tenth round. Left hooks, right hands and the ever-present jab landed, then a right rocked Sosnowski and Vitali stayed calm as he moved forward and walked him down. He got Sosnowski in the corner near round’s end, after a series of rights moved him about the ring. A left hand and brutal right dropped Sosnowski and referee Jay Nady waved it off with moments left in the tenth. The time was 2:20.

You can email Gabriel at maxgmontoya@gmail.com, follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/gabriel_montoya and catch him on each Monday’s episode of “The Next Round” with Steve Kim or tune into him live on Thursdays at 5-8 PM PST when he co-hosts the BlogTalk radio show Leave-it-in- the-Ring.com. Gabriel is a full member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.

* Special Thanks To MaxBoxing.