Wladimir Klitschko looked like Lennox Lewis as he overwhelmed former champion Hasim Rahman to stop him in Round 7 of their IBF and WBO heavyweight title bout Saturday in Mannheim, Germany.
No, wait: He looked like Larry Holmes. George Foreman. Sonny Liston.
Of course, Rahman looked like Sonny Corleone while sustaining a barrage of stiff left jabs, thudding left hooks and thunderous straight rights from the opening bell to the end, answering not at all in return and finally going to the canvas for an eight-count in Round 6. He didn?t belong in a championship fight.
Rahman, weighing a slack 254 pounds at age 36, lasted longer against Klitschko than he did against Lewis in their 2001 rematch only because he took no chances and wasn?t vulnerable to punches he couldn?t see, the sort that decked Rahman against Oleg Maskaev and Lewis. But, under trainer Emmanuel Steward, Klitschko (52-3, 46 knockouts) continues to bear as strong a resemblance to Lewis during his Steward years as he does to his own brother, WBC champion Vitali Klitschko.
Wladimir put Rahman (45-7) on the defensive from the get-go, the way Foreman would, controlling the fight with the jab and using it to set up power punches the way Holmes did. And he did it with a ferocity approaching that of Liston, another monster with a great jab.
And afterward, Klitschko sounded eager to take on all comers as soon as possible, while he?s reaching his peak at 32, starting with Aleksandr Povetkin, the mandatory challenger whose injury paved the way for Rahman?s substitution, and especially David Haye, the former cruiserweight who some feel could pull a Pacquiao on either Klitschko brother.
I?m a huge fan of Wladimir Klitschko who doesn?t think his championship presence ? including the excitement the heavyweight champion is supposed to generate — is all that questionable anymore.
