Vegas Sharps

After Wladimir Klitschko’s demolition of #3 ranked heavyweight contender Ruslan Chagaev I decided to break down the skills new “Ring Heavyweight Champion”. Klitschcko fights top-5 contender Chris Arreola Saturday September 26th and I wanted to see if his -500 price tag was warranted. Klitschko never let Ruslan Chagaev into the fight, a testament to his continued progress as a prizefighter. The once vulnerable Wladimir now looks like a true top-10 pound-4-pound contender. The boxing betting odds for Klitschko vs Arreola have Klitschko as a

Against Ruslan Chagaev, Wladimir Klitschko was calm, cool and collective. This 2009 version of Wladimir is a far cry from the 2003-2004 version that was KO’d by Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster. Trained by tall fighter specialist Emmanuel Steward, Klitschko has made great strides to become the albino version of Lennox Lewis. Stylistically Klitschko has almost become a Lennox Lewis clone. While Wladimir is not always crowd pleasing, he is always effective at using his world-class jab to set up his laser beam straight right hand.

At one time Klitschko was more “puncher” than “boxer” that had more holes in his defense than Swiss cheese. The 2009 version of Klitschko is a very elusive target that has mastered distance and overall ring generalship. Klitschko has been labled as china-chinned by some critics but he actually takes a better punch than most think. A well-trained heavyweight contender can punch with the force of a trash compactor and Klitschko has picked himself off the deck before against big punchers. Klitschko’s one major flaw however seems to be his paper-thin skin that can be ripped open. Despite his propensity to ooze plasma on the canvas, Wladimir is very-good at what he does. While I still consider Klitschko as the 2nd best Heavyweight behind his brother Vitali, he has claimed a spot on my top-10 pound-4-pound list.