(This article was originally posted in 2007 after Wladimir Klitschko knocked out Ray Austin in the second round.)
He’s so good now, you can’t deny it. Don King can’t deny it. The ignorant American writers can’t deny it. Nobody can deny it, Wladimir Klitschko is the world’s heavyweight champion. That’s how supremely superb Klitschko is right now.
He annihilated his opponent with a Tyson-like ferocity – and quadruple left hook (the fifth missed), and with one arm in less than five minutes (he never even launched a single right). Ray Austin is not a bum but Klitschko is so dominant, so devastating that Mr. Rainman was made to look like one…
But with such a spectacular performance there was a hint of sadness and a little disappointment in Klitschko. As if there was a sense that we all know how great Dr. Steelhammer is but that he has to subject himself to such meaningless challenges against little known and undeserving opposition that then enables the ignorant and stupid critics to continue moaning, Ah, Klitschko only beat a stiff. He didn’t prove nuttin. KOing Ray Austin is nuttin’ to brag about.’
Emanuel Steward is looking like a soothsayer – Klitschko is one of the greatest heavyweight champions in history, right now. Oh yes he is. This fully formed and concentrated Klitschko, now at his best, could conceivably beat any heavyweight from any era. Yeah, I’m talking anyone, from Johnson to Louis to Dempsey to Ali to Holmes to Lewis to Foreman.
And Klitschko is eager to fight the best of today but people like Don King are frightened to let that happen. Dr. Steelhammer has trained and sacrificed so much of his life to fight for the ultimate boxing honor. Sure, a level of Klitschko’s greatness comes out in these fights against the likes of Austin, but Klitschko wants to compete against the best out there, the most recognized – like the Giant Valuev, Briggs or Maskaev. Klitschko wants to see how good he really is, he wants to see, he wants to feel the thrills of fighting the very best. He wants to feel deep inside how his powers react when faced with the most dangerous threat. Then and only then will we be privileged to see the ultimate greatness of Klitschko. Don King be damned if he continues to keep Klitschko out of those fights.
Blockheads and certain American writers will still say, Well, burp, excooze me, there’s no one out there that’s any good to threaten Klitschko. He’s just the best of a bad lot. But I think that’s false, ignorant and, stupid. Ray Austin looked dangerous and very capable against Sultan Ibragimov and Larry Donald. But against Klitschko he looked like a baby giraffe against a starving jaguar. He looked like Trevor Berbick or Frank Bruno against Tyson. Berbick and Bruno were good, solid fundamental fighters – except when they had to battle Mike Tyson.
I believe the reality of how truly formidable Klitschko is has a paralyzing psychological impact on the rest of the world’s heavyweights. Other heavyweight boxers are intelligent and fully recognize and appreciate how absolutely devastating Klitschko is (unlike ignorant pencil pushers with an agenda) and it weakens them, it hurts them, it breaks their spirit, in an immeasurable way. Much like when Saliere encountered Mozart. Much like when the egotistical, arrogant but insecure writer who reads another writer’s work which makes him feel inferior. Klitschko is so far and away the best that, in my opinion, he breaks the opposition before the fight even starts, in a way. Just like Tyson did.
I think it’s safe to assume Don King will continue to do all in his power to block Wladimir Klitschko from trying to fulfill his lifelong dream. He will try to block unification and he will plot again to prevent Klitschko with yet another IBF mandatory. I’m sure King even has other ideas up his sleeve. He will never let one of his so-called title-holding employees to fight Klitschko without demanding options. Why? Because Don King is a ruler and he does not want to ever be in a position to be dictated to. Don King knows by now that Klitschko will slaughter any pawn he attempts to put against him and then Don King knows that he will then become irrelevant. And dictators can’t allow that to happen. Rulers must hold on to their power by any means necessary. I repeat, any means necessary.
You saw that false smile on Don King’s face after the fight, after watching his man get destroyed. But in a way that devious, deceptive smile was real because in a way Don King won. In a way Klitschko’s mutilation of Austin was a victory for Don King. Klitschko has now wasted about nine months of precious time on another Don King pawn.
The world is waiting for a Heavyweight champion. It has been waiting for a long time now. The people of Europe know Wladimir Klitschko will be that man. They booed the American national anthem – I believe that was partly for sporting but also, perhaps primarily, for political reasons aimed as a rebuke at the current American government.
Klitschko is a bright light in this world today, a beacon of hope. The man is the living embodiment of absolute excellence. He is all class, all professionalism, a true champion of the people, a true inspiration, a true role model for all to gain inspiration from. Much like Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Roger Federer, Pete Sampras, etc.
It’s beautiful and delightful to see such excellence in humanity from Wladimir Klitschko. The world needs to see it at this time. Very much the world needs to have such an honorable Heavyweight champion who epitomizes and personifies such absolute excellence.
If Don King can’t stand to see a good man like Klitschko achieve his destiny, he ought to break away and go start his own heavyweight league. He can bring his employees Monte Barrett, Owen Beck, DaVarryl Williamson, Mike Mollo, Shannon Briggs, Samuel Peter and the rest and have a tournament and name the winner the Don King heavyweight champ. Then Don King and all his employees can scream and shout and slander the Klitschko brothers and tell what bad and terrible fighters they are with no heart and no chin and no balls. And Don King can tell the world how his heavyweight champ is the best while only letting him fight other mismatched Don King fighters. Don King can bring back John Ort to do his rankings. The networks will be breaking King’s door down with tons of money to sign up to televise the fights like Barrett-Beck and Williamson-Mollo II won’t they?
And this would let King rule and dictate his own little world. And the real sport of boxing can get on with the real business of determining the one and only World Heavyweight champion.
The sport of boxing needs to have just one World Heavyweight champion. And this world also needs a World Heavyweight champion in these chaotic political times.
The rest of the world, the good and the evil segments need to see a World Heavyweight champion like Wladimir Klitschko.
“In the age of chaos only the ruthless survive. Evil will always prosper because good is dumb.” –unknown
“In order to be the best in the world you need to get blood on your hands.” –Phil Anselmo
Scoop’s book “Heavyweight Armageddon: The Tyson-Lewis Championship Battle” was called “A smashing success,” by Emanuel Steward, “One of the two best boxing books I ever read.”