{"id":1789,"date":"2010-03-23T00:02:19","date_gmt":"2010-03-23T05:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ringsidereport.com\/?p=1789"},"modified":"2010-03-23T00:02:19","modified_gmt":"2010-03-23T05:02:19","slug":"albert-sosnowski-vitali-klitschko%e2%80%99s-next-challenger-is-pathetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/?p=1789","title":{"rendered":"Albert Sosnowski: Vitali Klitschko\u2019s Next Challenger is Pathetic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Daniel \u201cTex\u201d Cohen<\/strong><\/p>\n

RSR is a site made for news and editorials.\u00a0 Unless you have been hit in the head with a tack hammer moments before reading one of our articles, telling the difference between the two is no problem.\u00a0 Our news is reported in AP Style and formatted with continuity and regularity.\u00a0 Our editorials are in semi-personal voice.\u00a0 Digital story-telling makes for compelling, differentiated opinions that are clearly just those.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many of our editorials fan the flames of angry fans, but those reactions come with the territory for a site of our business.\u00a0 When Geoff \u201cThe Professor\u201d Poundes slams Manny Pacquiao, I am sure Pac-Nation floods his in-box in the style of their own heroic volume-puncher.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When I slammed Wladimir Klitschko\u2019s propensity to use the clinch as a strategy, every globe-gripping K-Head from here to Timbuktu decided to put on their \u201cintellectual\u201d glasses and send me long-winded, critical e-mails laced with exclamation points and wild claims.\u00a0 When I called for the permanent ban of Antonio Margarito, Margacheato fans came out with vicious attacks to call me everything from Gringo to\u2026 well, I can\u2019t really print what else they called me.\u00a0\u00a0 You get the picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those reactions prompt a response of no response.\u00a0 Note to nut-huggers: I don\u2019t care.\u00a0 Don\u2019t care at all.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost more sleep over a piece of belly button lint than I have over hate mail.\u00a0 So let me preface this editorial by saying, \u201cBring it on.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the most dominant fighters in Boxing today is Vitali Klitschko, arguably the last heavyweight fighter to have held his own against a decent version of one of yesteryear\u2019s great champions in Lennox Lewis.\u00a0 Vitali was the top of the heavyweight pyramid for exactly three fights after the Lewis bout, defeating Kirk Johnson, Corrie Sanders and Danny Williams in 2003 and 2004.\u00a0 Following the Williams bout, Klitschko and his chronically injured shoulder stepped out of Boxing for almost four years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During that time period, the younger Klitschko took over the heavyweight division with a collection of knockouts against most if not all top contenders.\u00a0 Vitali finally made his comeback in 2008, pounding Sam Peter into submission in one of the most disappointing heavyweight fights of all time.\u00a0 The elder Klitschko then took victories over Juan Carlos Gomez, Chris Arreola and Kevin Johnson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the exception of the Arreola fight, all of those bouts could have tranquilized a horse.\u00a0 On the other hand, no one ever said it was Klitschko\u2019s job to entertain (Actually, thousands of people have said just that in the past).\u00a0 Klitschko\u2019s job is to win by any means possible (like John Ruiz).\u00a0 He is the most dominant champion in the world today (against mostly weak contenders).\u00a0<\/p>\n

In all honesty, who can blame Vitali for cleaning up with bludgeoning knockouts?\u00a0 The best contenders are bad; so be it.\u00a0 He\u2019ll knock out anyone they put in front of him, and it\u2019s not his job to go out and find good competitors.\u00a0 That job is for his promoters, who have done the best they can.\u00a0 Until now.<\/p>\n

Some of you may have heard about Vitali Klitschko\u2019s upcoming challenger, Albert Sosnowski.\u00a0 My bet is that most of you have not.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I first saw Sosnowski on ESPN2\u2019s Friday Night Fights in August of 2008 while I was drinking some Jim Beam at the famous Phoenix Hill Tavern on Bardstown Road in Louisville Kentucky.\u00a0 Phoenix Hill is a weird little place with six stages for a variety of different bands.\u00a0 The music sucked that night, so I stuck to watching the fight.\u00a0
\nSosnowski, nicknamed \u201cThe Dragon\u201d, is a huge Polish guy, and going into that bout he was boasting a 43-1 record.\u00a0 Naturally, those credentials suggest an interesting, though perhaps one-dimensional fighter, ready to crash any and all who stand in the ring with him, including the statistical anomaly that stood in the ring with him that night.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You may have heard of Sosnowksi\u2019s challenger that evening.\u00a0 If you are a Boxing sabrematrician or just a frequenter of ESPN 2 or boxing oddities, Zuri Lawrence might even be a household name.\u00a0 For those of you who have never heard of him, I\u2019ll clue you in. Lawrence has the honor of being 24-16 without a single solitary knockout.\u00a0 How he manages to beat most of his opponents without one iota of pop is fascinating.\u00a0 He even has victories over former contenders Jameel McCline and Darroll Wilson, and held former challenger Ray Austin to a draw.\u00a0 In other words, Lawrence is very respectable for what he does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Having said that, a real contender should have no issue with Lawrence, the ultimate novelty fighter.\u00a0 Zuri has been on the receiving end of eight knockouts and lacks the pop to hurt anyone with a human chin.\u00a0 Yet there was Sosnowski on that pitiful evening, swinging at air and putting up very little outside of a minor body attack as Lawrence stuck, moved and jabbed his way to an easy shutout victory.\u00a0 Sosnowsi lost all eight rounds on all three cards, never to be seen again in a major fight.<\/p>\n

Or so we thought.\u00a0 After knocking out Danny Williams and fighting to a draw with Francesco Pianeta, Sosnowski managed to knockout Paolo Vidoz for some minor belt.\u00a0 Apparently, Klitschko\u2019s handlers decided that was enough for a title shot, and that\u2019s where we are now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I thought maybe the folly was that of the sanctioning body, so I checked the WBC rankings.\u00a0 As faulty as they are, even that organization had the brains to keep Sosnowski out of the top ten.\u00a0<\/p>\n

All of that said, Klitschko\u2019s handlers will gain sympathy based on a tired old excuse:\u00a0 \u201cWho else should he fight?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

To that I say, \u201cAnyone but Sosnowski.\u201d\u00a0 I understand the idea of a tune-up, but this guy is a joke.\u00a0 Sosnowski\u2019s most recent \u201ccomeback streak\u201d has two victories.\u00a0 The first guy he beat was recently destroyed by Vitali Klitschko.\u00a0 As for Vidoz, his once undefeated record was originally ruined by none other than Zuri Lawrence.\u00a0 A fight against Sosnowski might \u201ckeep Klitschko sharp\u201d, but so would a sword in the eye.\u00a0<\/p>\n

So while little brother K dogs it out with the best American heavyweight in Eddie Chambers, Vitali Klitschko\u00a0 is training for what should be a one punch knockout of a fight with a Polish sausage.\u00a0 My advice for the \u201chandlers\u201d?\u00a0 Next time, stick Iron Fist in there with Lawrence.\u00a0 At least the guy can beat Sosnowski.<\/p>\n

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By Daniel \u201cTex\u201d Cohen RSR is a site made for news and editorials.\u00a0 Unless you have been hit in the head with a tack hammer moments before reading one of our articles, telling the difference between the two is no problem.\u00a0 Our news is reported in AP Style and formatted with continuity and regularity.\u00a0 Our […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[40,105,321,402,749],"class_list":["post-1789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-boxing-news","tag-albert-sosnowski","tag-boxing","tag-heavyweight-champion","tag-joke","tag-vitali-klitschko"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1789\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ringsidereport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}