Exactly one week after an American football field was packed to witness the champion of the smaller weights, Manny Pacquiao defend his crown, another futbol (soccer) field was packed to capacity in the city of Dusseldorf in Germany to watch a defense of the lineal heavyweight championship of the world between the champion Wladimir Klitschko and American challenger Eddie Chambers. In Europe the fight was recieved with all the pomp and circumstance that traditionally is afforded to a heavyweight title fight but here in the states the fight went down without a whisper since there was no promotional push here by any American cable or network provider since none were willing to broadcast the fight. Those interested were able to see the fight on Klitschko.com. Its the latest blow to the former glamour division that featured the legendary likes of Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Rocky Marciano, and Muhammad Ali. Apparently neither the champions nor the challengers in this weight class, most of which are European, have managed to capture the imagination of the American fight public. Or at least that is what the cable and PPV carriers have decided with their recent boycott of this past Saturday's world title fight in which an American challenger who on paper had a legitimate shot of toppling the giant Ukrainian from his perch atop of the heavyweight mountain.
The final result of Saturday's tilt in Germany was a lopsided win for the champion via 12th round knockout. Klitschko was able to control the distance between the fighters with his left jab which enabled him to control the fight from the beginning to end. Eddie Chambers who is normally a crafty fighter with better than average boxing skills was unable to demonstrate it on this occasion and the only offense he was able to muster was a body slam worthy of the WWE that felled the champ in the second round. After that mishap Klitschko was able to resume his dominance over Chambers and continued to win every single round with the most basic of combinations: the left jab followed by the right cross (the good ol' one-two). In the champion's corner where two boxing luminaries, his brother WBC champion Vitaly Klitschko and legendary trainer Emanuel Steward who both vehemently insisted that Wladimir seek out the knockout win. The champion would respond to their wishes in the 12th round with a left hook that would leave the challenger flat on his face in his corner. It was a great victory for the massive champion but another loss for the heavyweights in terms of respectability.
The reason given by HBO president of sports programming, Ross Greenburg was; "since Vitaly Klitschko's return, the American public has been unable to differentiate between the two brothers and there has been a loss of interest in Klitschko fights." Its true the TV networks are under no obligation to broadcast fights if they don't want to but to give this reason as an excuse not to is simply an insult to boxing fans at large. So you mean to tell me that fight fans had this same problem identifying the Ruelas, Quarry, Vargas, and Spinks brothers as well? There have been many cases of siblings competing in or around the same weight class without there being this identity problem that Greenburg is talking about. Much closer to the truth is that we have a dominant non-American world heavyweight champion who happens to fight in an unappealing style with little fan support. Sounds a lot like the Lennox Lewis dilemma which didn't turn out too bad in retrospect did it? But that is why it is called the world heavyweight championship and not the United States heavyweight championship. The title must be claimed in the ring and not just ignored until the title passes on to an American fighter with an exciting style. Imagine if all broadcast communication decided not to air champions who are deemed boring and lacking in excitement, well there goes your Detroit Pistons, the Florida Marlins, the Minnesota Twins, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer, and a slew of golfers. Its the height of irresponsibility by the caretakers of the sport that allowed the defense of the crown once held by Joe Louis and Ali to be shown not on television but on the Internet.
Its crazy because those two guys (Klitschkos) often do win by knockout but somehow they do make it seem dull....we need a new brand of Tyson to come in and rescue us from Eurotrash but until then I do agree these guys can't and shouldn't be ignored. One of them is the undisputed champ for cripes sake!
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