Brand new heavies

Wayne looks at back at Wladimir Klitschko's clash with Hasim Rahman and wonders who he will fight next.

Wladimir Klitschko was scheduled to take on young, undefeated fighter Alexander Povetkin last weekend but Povetkin suffered a severe ankle injury and the fight had to be postponed mere weeks before. His missed opportunity turned into a huge break for Hasim Rahman who got the call to step in. But how did Rahman get this shot? He is coming off a fight with James Toney this past July. A headbutt in the 3rd round of that fight opened up a cut on his left eye and even though he was behind on the cards and Toney hurt him at the end of the round, he told the doctor in between rounds that he could no longer see and the fight was stopped. Toney was awarded a TKO victory but almost 2 weeks later the result was turned around and ruled a no contest. Klitschko has been back on form lately, undefeated in nine fights. His last defeat was to Lamon Brewster in April 2004. Many thought that was the end for Klitschko since he ran out of gas that night after three rounds and eventually got knocked out. But he has shown improvement in skills and conditioning in his recent fight although he hasn't really been pushed. Samuel Peter pressed the action in September 2005 and dropped him three times but Klitschko went on to win a points decision. In my opinion this was the start of his rehabilitation. Now Wladimir and his older brother Vitali hold three belts between them - the WBC, IBF and WBO. The WBA belt is held by Ruslan Chagaev. But the question remained in this fight. Would Rahman be a stepping stone for Klitschko or would this chance meeting be a move on to bigger and better things for Rahman? His only threat to Klitschko would have been his one punch knockout power because his skills and conditioning are not great. Klitschko was making the sixth defence of his title fighting in his third fight this year showing that he wants to keep himself busy in the ring. He began the fight using his height and reach advantage and popping out a long, hard left jab which was accurate, hurting Rahman on several occasions. Rahman's defence was non existent and when he jabbed he left his right hand low allowing Klitschko to land his jab easily. Klitschko followed the jab with a right hand that landed effortlessly. Rahman stayed on the ropes in the third round getting hit repeatedly with solid jabs and left right combinations. He was taking a lot of shots but I wondered if he was just waiting to land the one big shot he needed. Maybe he was tired or the 10 lb of extra weight he was carrying in this fight affected him. In the sixth round a double left hook followed by a right dropped Rahman. He got to his feet but even before the knockdown he was looking like he didn't want to be in there. Having had only three weeks notice for this fight may not have been enough to step into this big fight. Rahman was slow. But in the sixth he had to cover up and showed some guts for staying in the fight. In between rounds his trainer, Buddy McGirt, told him he wasn't going to let him take many more shots. A straight left, right, left rocked Rahman at the start of the seventh round and a flurry of short left hooks and rights had referee, Tony Weeks, step in and stop the fight at just 44 seconds into the round. Rahman, who was tiring by the second, was taking way too many punches and wasn't able to do anything. Klitschko did a good job of being smart, boxing well with accurate jabs and took practically nothing from his opponent. The Klitschko brothers still rule the heavyweight division. So who's next for these two? Wladimir mentioned David Haye, Chris Arreola and Povetkin. And to me, these fights show that he is determined to clean up the contenders even though they are all young and itching for a chance at glory.