WLAD FALLS IN FIVE By George Elsasser

 

 

Good news is the brothers Klitschko are now down to a precious one ... and with it, the only challenge left is in the spelling of big bro' Vitali ... er... Vitaly ... er Vitalyi ~ and the ancient cry of "bigger they are the harder they fall" is alive and well.

Was all Wlad at the start ... jab, jab, jab and something that passes for a weak left hook repeatedly scored over rounds one and two ... then a hint of a Brewster puncher's chance surfaced in stanza three after rocking the fragile giant with a left hook.

Manny Stewart plays psychologist with the huffing, puffing not very jolly giant between three and four ... tells the good doctor he's doing just fine ... tosses in how tired Brewster is ... my thoughts about then, was if Lamon baby is tired, Wlad's condition is spelled exhaustion.

Then candle four and Wlad scores big with the right hand and down goes Brewster ... limited in skills or not this Brewster guy is no mutt - beats the count and the 60 seconds interval has him refreshed for number five.

And the rest is history ... a floundering and exhausted Klitschko is battered, dropped, and needs help getting to corner ... enuf so that referee Robert Byrd calls it no-mas at end of number five.

With the showcase HBO win WBO champ Lamon Brewster has now earned equal standing with (WBA) John Ruiz and (IBF) Chris Byrd in the heavyweight time share lottery games.

But don't touch that dial ... April 24 another doctor resurfaces ... Vitali vs Sanders for the WBC bauble ~ and with it the number will grow to four champs ... hopefully they draw cards with last guy standing as one and only heavyweight champion.

Post Scripts: Emanuel Steward ~ First major problem with eastern bloc amateurs turned professional is in the tutoring ... no inside game, no combinations, is all about jab-right hand. Manny gets the brothers Klitschko too late for style change ... and the erect and robotic thing is a stamina sapper. Along with the Doctors K are other east European examples out there ... Andrew "Foul Pole" Golota and Oleg Maskaev are two that come to mind ... problem is they too are from the same mold.

Time for one of our best tutors in Manny Steward to now re-think the recreation biz and return to reality.

4-10-2004