2007-07-07
Kölnarena, Kiel, Germany
IBF/IBO Heavyweight Title
Wladimir Klitschko TKO 6 Lamon Brewster
The first person to enter the ring was Michael Buffer, who announced the start of The Rematch…
Lamon seemed too eager to get into the ring. But once he entered the ring he lacked any confidence in his eyes, which was clearly visible during his last fights.
Wladimir's entrance consisted of a video clip, which showed parts of their first fight, narrated by Wladimir.
Once he entered inside arena, Wladimir moved slowly, under green laser beams. He was also nervous, but was able to completely hide it. Both fighters stood in their corners as Michael Buffer did official introductions. After the American and Ukrainian anthems were played, Wladimir and Lamon were ready to start.
The referee, Sam Williams, motioned for Wladimir and Lamon to touch gloves in the middle of the ring and signaled the start of the fight…
Lamon moved quickly at the start of the first round, trying to catch Wladimir early on. But Wladimir established a save distance from which he was able to control the fight and stop any counterattacks by Brewster. Wladimir spend most of the round in the center of the ring keeping Brewster on the end of his jab.
In the second round Lamon tried again to catch Wladimir off guard, but Wladimir easily put him on defense with his jab. During this round Wladimir made repeated contact with his strong left jab that largely went unanswered.
Wladimir was in complete control by the third round. In this round Wladimir used a mixture of jabs and right hands as Brewster struggled to land anything meaningful. Wladimir clinched a couple of times when Brewster tried to burst through. At the end of the round Wladimir shook Brewster with a hard right.
It was all Wladimir in the fourth round as he used his jab to keep Brewster at a safe distance. Brewster was unable to get past Wladimir's jab to apply any significant pressure.
At the end of round four, Emmanuel Steward, Wladimir's trainer told Wladimir that he should keep-up using the jab, with increased power until the end of the six round. From then on he should look for a knockout. Brewster's trainer, Buddy McGirt, told his fighter to stop being flatfooted and to increase the use of his own jab.
The fifth round started identical to the fourth. Lamon tried to use his own jab but without much success. Couple more clinches (by the way Wladimir clinched less in this fight than in any of his prior fights) with Lamon unable to get by Wladimir's jab. Wladimir landed a three-jab combo followed by a hard right just before the end of the round. Brewster's trainer warned him, and gave him another round before he would pull a plug on the fight.
Wladimir continued to destruct Brewster with the jab in the six round. Brewster withstood several devastating right hands. As Wladimir gained momentum, Brewster was unable to do anything. Brewster seemed to be standing up to the constant punishment, but two massive left-right combinations rocked the American. Before the seventh could start, Brewster's trainer, Buddy McGirt, flapped his towel and referee Sam Williams called the fight.
Wladimir's victory by a TKO in the sixth round.
2007-03-10
SAP-Arena, Manheim, Germany
IBF/IBO Heavyweight Title
Wladimir Klitschko TKO 2 Ray Austin
Already the first round clarified the different fight styles of the two opponents. While Austin, acting slowly and lumberingly, tried to reach Wladimir's head with right punches below the jab of the titleholder, the brilliant technician Wladimir evaded to the impacts skillfully and countered with lightning-like left jabs, which by then landed only at the defense of the challenger. This continued in the further process of the first round, without scoring substantially on both sides.
The second round began like the first with the ineffective attempts of Austin, to punch, somewhat ducking, his left straight hand to Wladimir's head. This could be offered Wladimir not for a long time, because he answered with a series of three lightning-like left Jabs, which hit also Ray's chin. This was meant as preparation for an enormous right straight punch, but Ray saw it coming just in time. Nevertheless this was the beginning of the end: When Ray with the evasive action was ducking to the right, he opened a gap in his defense, which was used by Wladimir immediately. With a series of four fast struck left hooks Wladimir hit unirringly the challenger's head. The fifth hook missed Austin, because he was already falling forward for a hard belly landing. Austin landed on the belly, stunnedly and disbelievingly looking at the title defender, who was sent into the neutral corner. The referee counted Austin to eight and stopped the fight, although Ray came again on his legs. The clock only showed 1:27 minutes of the second round, when ahead of schedule the end of the title defense fight was certain.
Under the rejoicing of the spectators the official decision TKO 2 was announced and Wladimir was decorated again with the world champion belts. While Wladimir as well as his overjoyed brother immediately gave interviews in the ring, Austin and its team, among them a meek Don King, who in the meantime had coiled up his flags, left the ring silently. The bad style of the King's clan showed up also in the fact that none was willing to appear to the following press conference and to face up to the questions of the media.
