Thus, Volodymyr Klitschko defended his titles and received the world champion title according to Ring magazine. Ruslan Chagaev's WBA title was not on the line in the fight.
Report
The fight of the "steel hammer" against the "white Tyson" ended with a convincing victory for the former. So convincing that, perhaps, one might have wanted more intrigue. After all, the WBA world champion could not implement what gave him a chance to win - to make the pace of the fight choppy, to frequently and unexpectedly close the distance and try to catch Klitschko with uppercuts and side punches.
Yes, Chagaev did not look like a punching boy, which Sultan Ibragimov, similar to him in size and right-handed stance, resembled, but he was unable to get past the Ukrainian's defense and distance.
Volodymyr Klitschko clearly executed the fight plan developed by his team. Without reinventing the wheel, our boxer used all his natural and technical trump cards - the advantage in height and arm length, a masterful jab and devastating straight punches from both hands. For triumph, Klitschko Jr. did not even have to use side punches, which Volodymyr resorted to (from the left) only once during the confrontation as his opponent retreated.
The boxers conducted the bout as was to be expected. Volodya began working cautiously and from a long distance. Chagaev immediately went forward, but our compatriot had no problem moving away from the Uzbek's attacks with simple retreats backward. The Ukrainian traditionally met the opponent with a front left and from round to round increased the number of right-hand engagements. Thus, Klitschko's first real attack with his right hand in the fight ended with an unexpected knockdown of Chagaev in the second round.
Starting from the fifth segment of the fight, Chagaev's situation became increasingly difficult - after several missed two-punch combinations before that, the Ukrainian's opponent began using sideways slips less, and therefore stood in place more and took punches.
In the seventh round, after another right straight from Klitschko, Chagaev's left eyebrow began bleeding. In the same round, the Uzbek had his only, not even a chance, but a half-chance. Volodymyr "remembered" his old ailment during quick distance closures by the opponent and somehow uncertainly retreated to the ropes, leaning on them. The Uzbek's only clean punch to the Ukrainian's head also came in this round - Chagaev caught Klitschko with a left side punch only when the bell sounded and our boxer was not expecting such a development.
From the eighth, Klitschko "turned on" his legs - he began working on retreats to the right and left, evidently trying not to repeat the experience of the "post-bell" missed punch. And the ninth round dotted all the i's. Klitschko managed to trap Chagaev in the corner of the ring and simply shoot him up with straight two-punch combinations. It is surprising how he stayed standing, and it is logical that after this the Uzbek's trainer Michael Timm did not send his charge out to the ring.
