It?s not news that Vitali Klitschko has lapped the field in the heavyweight division. That should have been obvious years ago. And it really won?t be significant news when Klitschko successfully defends his World Boxing Council world title on Saturday in Wroclaw, Poland, by routing Tomasz Adamek.
It?s what he does.
Adamek is a classy, talented boxer who would be the favorite against any heavyweight in the world but Klitschko and his younger brother, Wladimir, who holds the International Boxing Federation/ World Boxing Association/ World Boxing Organization versions of the belt.
It?s hard to see, though, how Adamek can win more than a round or two against Vitali Klitschko, whose jab is like a telephone pole and is both an offensive and defensive weapon. The jab is so powerful that it actually causes damage to his opponent, but his reach is so long and the jab pops so frequently that it?s difficult for opponents to get near him to punch at him.
The result is that in most of his fights, Klitschko takes next-to-no damage. And that will likely be true again on Saturday in front of a crowd of more than 40,000 at a soccer stadium in Adamek?s home country. It would be a moral victory for Adamek if he won more than a round or two in the HBO-televised bout.
Boxing historians have disparate opinions of Klitschko. And because the current crop of heavyweights is so weak, it?s difficult to place a Klitschko in context against the likes of George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Larry Holmes and the like.
Klitschko has been desperate for a rematch with Lennox Lewis, the one elite heavyweight he met, since he lost a sensational 2003 bout in Los Angeles when a crater-sized cut on Klitschko?s eyeline forced the ringside physician to stop the bout.
Klitschko has spent years pleading for a rematch, but Lewis retired after the bout, was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame and has been adamant he?ll never consider a fight against any opponent.
