klitschkofan wrote:sunshinetrue-- thats true Rahman was being overly defensive most of the night and probably would have been out sooner if he was more offensive. I do think Wladimir could use some work on executing body punching in a situation like that. Rahman had his hands so far up covering his face that his body was totally exposed. Any body punch would have hit. Even if he were to just to throw identical punches that he throws to the head and just aimed for the body I think Rahman would have folded right there. Theres no way he would have stood up to one of Wlads lefts in that situation if it were directed towards his body....
But its understandable why he doesn't do much body punching. He's a tall guy who has knockout power in either hand and that's good enough to win any fight out there I believe, but if he wants to win quicker(And more impressively to some of the casual fans who don't appreciate him as a fighter like we do) against someone just being overly defensive like that, the body work would come in handy, especially if he meets someone someday who is a little more of a challenge than Rahman. 
He has the jab, right cross, left hook, conditioning, and footwork down as good as its going to get- He should work on the orher stuff since I don't think he would lose anything he knows now because hes at that optimum level Just my opinion. What do you think?I hear what you say, and that's in line with the flavour of criticism that he gets from other boxing enthusiasts. I, by no means know as much about boxing as most of my compadres here, but here's my two cents worth.
Wladimir's height is an advantage and a disadvantage when he's fighting shorter opponents. Throwing body punches would expose him to getting clipped and I don't blame him for being protective there. I don't care much for those that say that Wladimir's overly cautious about not getting hit to the head because of an apparent 'glass-jaw' predisposition. I don't believe this is the case whatsoever.
Wladimir demonstrates considerable, measured patience in the ring. He's methodical and strategic to the point where some would say they'd rather see him take a chance. Perhaps he's just not an impulsive person and would rather take an opportunity rather than a risk? I mean, come on guys...he's got women falling all over him anywhere he goes, and he's still single!!...doesn't that tell you something about his margin for risk tolerance? Whether that be in his personal life or the ring, that quality will follow him everywhere.
There's also a marked difference in how Wlad's been fighting since Manny's been working with him. He's known to be a head-hunter and that's a smart move as far as I'm concerned. The head's the central data bank and if you disengage that, the rest will follow. Would I like to see the occasion undercut or body shot like the rest of you...yep, but I'm quite content with Wlad winning with whatever _style_ he uses
On the other hand, Vitali's taller than Wladimir but he's known to go for the body as well as the head. He gets far less criticism from the boxing pundits than Wladimir because of this _style_ of boxing. If we had to pick who's the more dynamic boxer of the two brothers, I would venture to say that the Vitali would ring in more votes.
Wlad's also coming into "his own" in boxing at his age...he seems much more comfortable claiming the centre and showing them who's BOSS (sorry I just had to put that in there), In fact, in his last ringside interview, he agreed with Lennox Lewis that boxing in the 30's is a good thing... Who knows, perhaps with this additional level of confidence and experience, we'll see more variety in his repertoire, like his brother....
