Prediction: Klitschko Beats Up Ibragimov

While the Pavlik/Taylor II rerun is on, I'm logging on to post my bold prediction. Wladimir Klitschko wears down, beats up and disposes of a game but badly overmatched Sultan Ibragimov. Okay, so if you know the fighters coming into this two-belt unification belt (hallelujah, by the way!), it's not that bold.

Here is the way I expect tomorrow's post to read: "Nobody said Ibragimov couldn't fight, but if there were ever a match that showcased the difference between a heavyweight and a super heavyweight, it was this one. Ibragimov has good hand speed, sound boxing skills honed in an impressive amateur career and a good chin. None of that mattered because all of that can now be said of Wladimir Klitschko (yes, even the chin now...because he's been tested...and experience, commitment and knowing what the worst holds can, in rare cases, improve a fighters chin) and Klitschko outweighs Ibragimov by some 25 pounds of solid muscle, standing a good 5 inches taller and outreaching him by at least that. He was equally fast, his jab is improved and he's learned (the hard way) to fight tall. He hides his sledgehammer right hand better than ever behind that jab and Ibragimov's only edge (his footspeed) didn't matter because Ibragimov couldn't effectively use it to try and move laterally (because doing so kept him in range of the jab), so instead he tried to duck and slip the jab all night and ran into it over and over. The 10th round stoppage in which the referee stepped in was merciful because Ibragimov wouldn't have fallen, except by a literal sledge and the sight of him after ten rounds of running into that jab was frightening. He never had a chance."

Okay...is that specific enough? I am astounded that the otherwise amazing Teddy Atlas picked the 5-1 underdog Ibragimov to win. I'll admit that you could have knocked me over with a feather when Paul Williams lost to Carlos Quintana (the template Teddy cited for a successful Ibragimov fight plan) and that's why they fight the fights, but that's 147 pounds of apples as compared to 245 pounds of oranges. Williams is an unorthodox super-volume puncher who stopped punching (okay, so Quintana's movement may have had a little to do with it), while Klitschko is the heavyweight boxing equivalent of a piledriver. That piston jab is hardly a volume weapon. It's an all-too-accurate can't-get-away-from-it face cruncher. It comes every time you try to advance on him, not every one and a half seconds to confuse you. It also doesn't so much confuse as stun. It's also followed occasionally by a wrecking ball right hand. That knee-buckler isn't anywhere in Paul Williams' arsenal and never will be. With all due respect to Teddy, the comparison simply isn't apt.

I will save more insights for the post-fight wrap up. Klitschko by TKO in the tenth.