Though the notion was laughable and agreed upon - it took comedian Chris Rock to publicly exclaim the sincere absurdity of "two white guys fighting for the Heavyweight Championship" back in the 80's.  Yet, here we are some two  decades later with two white "giants" scheduled to pound on one another in order to be crowned Heavyweight Champion of the world.  Each fighter is an ex-Olympian from his respective country; Klitschko having won GOLD in 1996 and  Ibragimov SILVER in 2000. 
 
Though it's true that the Heavyweight Championship (or any Boxing championship for that matter!) has splintered into numerous "titles" since 1984 & neither one of these warriors can sing along with the Star Spangled Banner like most of us can - the international expectancy of this bout still resonates in the Boxing community.  Perhaps the most notable asterisk in this match up rests in the fact that in only 8 of their 74 fights have the judges  been asked to declare a winner.
 
So, I took it upon myself to do a little homework and take a look at the 8 fights that went to the judges scorecards:
 
SULTAN IBRAGIMOV //
- 2003; at 5-0 with 5 KO's he destroys an undefeated CHAD BUTLER, knocking him down 3 times in 4 rounds in a lopsided 6 round decision
- 2004; at 10-0 beat up and pounded on an overly matched journeyman ALEXEI OSOKIN in 8 rounds
- 2006; knocked down RAY AUSTIN 4 times and d onstrated a supr e trait of physical exuberance in one of my personal favorite fights of the year
- 2007; halted a 12 fight win streak by SHANNON BRIGGS by handing him a unanimous decision loss
- 2007; hopefully closed the curtains on EVANDER HOLYFIELD'S career as he clearly made Holy look OLD (again)

VLADIMIR KLITSCHKO //
- 1998; he won a fairly one-sided 8 round unanimous decision against EVERETT MARTIN before knocking him out 13 months later
- 2000; unmercifully dropped CHRIS BYRD twice after whupping up on him in route to a  unanimous decision that probably could've been stopped at any time with NO arguments
- 2005; clearly out-boxed and exposed SAM PETER as a big, strong B-rate Boxer who can only outbox smaller opponents
 
February 23rd should be interesting to say the least.  Although most pundits suggest Klitschko should have little probl in out pointing or possibly discarding Ibragimov within 12 rounds, there's always that Lamon Brewster shadow that won't se to go away.  Ibragimov is a Champ who's definitely earned his dues and se s to be getting better in each outing -but- Klitschko did to Ray Austin in 2 rounds what Ibragimov couldn't do in 12.  My money is on Klitschko. 
 
I wonder which one is Chris Rock's pick?

02-9-2008