Wladimir Klitschko – Kubrat Pulev: In Defeat, did Pulev Lay Out a Fight Plan that if Executed Properly, could Topple the Heavyweight Ruler?

By Doctor Ibrahim Hussain

During the midst of a cold winter evening, Wladimir Klitschko laced up his gloves for another world title defense. Kubrat Pulev was the next warrior on his dance card, but without even a consideration of fight tactics or a game plan, many viewers would be forgiven for thinking it is business as usual. This however was a very different fight. On the surface, the fight statistics would disagree. Klitschko wins by 5th round knockout. It’s not something new. His last fight was a 5th round knockout, and many during the midst of his career reflected a similar outcome.

But Pulev did show something very different indeed…

Since his loss to Lamon Brewster in 2004, the feeling at large was that someone who was able to pressure Klitschko would be able to topple the king with the Iron hammer.

But Pulev went into this fight with a very different plan, mirroring the tactics of Wladimir’s signature back foot stance. Pulev did have some success in the early rounds, despite taking some peaches from Klitschko throughout the fight. Klitschko did show the skill of adapting to what was in front of him, but did get hit with some clever well thought shots from Pulev, which were not as a result of a pressured attack on the Ukrainian giant.

The ever-loud re-incarnation of “Clubber Lang”, Shannon Briggs was at ringside. Shannon the Cannon has been very vocal over the last year, and one would be forgiven for agreeing with a court judgment against him on the grounds of stalking Klitschko. However, there are a significant number of the boxing fraternity who agree that Shannon Briggs may be one of the current few American Heavyweights who could pose even a whisper of threat to the reign of the former Olympic gold medalist, largely due to his come forward style and possible pressure that he could put on Klitschko.

This failed miserably in Briggs first attempt at shooting down Wladimir’s older brother Vitali, although Briggs would explain that this was due to his dislocated shoulder suffered during the fight.

What nobody has really given any thought of until now is breaking the Klitschko code using a style that mimics the style that has given Klitschko his almost record beating march of success. Klitschko has been fighting for many years, and has had time to perfect his technique, despite the style being such that worldwide television ratings have declined, so much so that his fights are rarely held outside Germany, and would unlikely sell out a Las Vegas casino.

Pulev on the other hand came into the fight with less amateur and professional experience, and was still able to show glimpses of the weapons that no one would have previously thought to trouble Klitschko. Those weapons were sitting on the back foot, pawing away with the left hand, and throwing combinations of straight hands.

The outcome was no different, but the way it was executed was different for Klitschko, finishing his opponent with a lead left hook. But there was glimpses of what could massively benefit the chances of tall rangy fighter such as Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury should they meet Wladimir in the square ring.

Maybe Shannon Briggs will be having second thoughts about his tactics. Maybe Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury will be marveling in the prospect of extending the tactics shown by Kubrat Pulev.

But as of now, Wladimir Klitschko is homing in on the record set by Joe Louis for the reign of title defenses, and is going back to his training camp in Miami with little damage, in preparation for another sellout event in Germany. Let’s face it, a Klitschko fight will unlikely sell out anywhere else unless he faces Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury should they be victorious in their upcoming duels.