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Live round-by-round scoring and summary of the heavyweight title fight between #1 Wladimir Klitschko and #2 Ruslan Chagaev.
Wladimir Klitschko
52-3, 46 KO
6' 7"
240 lbs
81" reach
Ruslan Chagaev
25-0-1, 17 KO
6' 1"
225 lbs.
74" reach
Klitschko ranked #1 by IBF, WBO, IBO, Ring, and SportsRatings
Chagaev ranked #1 by WBA (champion in recess), #4 IBO, #3 Ring, #2 SportsRatings
Fight time: 5:00pm eastern on ESPN Classic and espn360.com.
Odds: Klitschko is a nearly 6-1 favorite.
Here we go. Klitschko entering the ring, Chagaev already there. National anthems being played. Chagaev looks like he always does, same expression on his face at all times. Wladimir is sweating. The Ukrainian national anthem is cutting out, mic problems? Bad foreshadowing for Klitschko?
ESPN360 is cutting out, too, as usual. Restarted it in time for Buffer's signature and the introductions. Crowd is slightly for Klitschko, Chagaev has lots of support.
- Round One: Wlad keeping Chag at the end of his jab; Chag's guard is high, jabs hitting his gloves. Chagaev trying to get inside, working hard. Questionable how long he can expend this kind of energy, he needs to get something to work. Wlad connects with a good right, lots of jabs. Klitschko 10-9.
- Round Two: Wlad's jabs getting through Chagaev's guard. Ruslan unable to get past so far, staying in front of Klitschko, trying to go under to the body, rushing in at times. Knockdown by Klitschko in middle of round from a straight right to the chin, Chagaev not hurt but takes an 8 count. Round ends with little action. Klitschko 10-8; overall Klitschko 20-17.
- Round Three: Chagaev gets inside but misses his opportunity. Good left from Klit, good jabs still. Chagaev still standing in front of Klitschko. The height and reach difference are really causing problems for Chagaev, who is not getting shots in at all. Klitschko 10-9; total: Klitschko 30-26.
- Round Four: Chagaev not doing anything diferent in round four early on, just standing in front of Klitschko and taking his punishment. Chagaev tries a lunging hook that misses, the gets hit by a hard right hook. Some ineffective body shots; all his hits are just at the end of the punch and barely tag Klitschko. Wladimir rarely missing, in contrast. Can't be much fun in there for Ruslan Chagaev. More head movement late in the round from Chagaev. Klitschko 10-9; total: Klitschko 40-35.
- Round Five: Chagaev's lunges not working. Chagaev hit by hard right, now in corner, Klitscvhko stalking him. Chagaev moving to his left, toward the hard rights, not taking advantge of his southpaw stance. Klitschko has barely been touched all fight so far, with round 5 ending. Klitschko 10-9; overall Klitschko 50-44.
- Round Six: Wladimir Klitschko's defense has been supurb; whatever gets past his left is blocked with his right. Another jab snaps Chagaev's head back. Chagaev needs a lucky punch to get through. Chagaev gets inside and Klitschko clinches. This may have been Chagaev's best round, as he got hit the least and tried a few things. Still Klitschko's round 10-9; overall Klitschko 60-53.
- Round Seven: Chagaev's few hits have been to Wlad's ribcage. He doesn't look a lot more tired than he started out, so he's not fading, but just hasn't been successful offensively. Wlad delivers another right hand, but Chag doesn't look "ready to fall" at all. Chagaev backs Klitschko up to the ropes but doesn't get the punch he needs. End of the round, right after the bell Chagaev connects with his best shot of the night. Klitschko 10-9; overall 70-62.
- Round Eight: Chagaev's eye has been getting a cut for several rounds and it's starting to open a bit. Chagaev gets Klitschko off balance for a bit, but doesn't charge in, Wlad is loose and dancing. Chagaev gets in an odd, overhand jab, and is starting to use it a bit. Round 8: 10-10; overall 80-72.
- Round Nine: The announcers are talking KO, as the scorecards are academic at this point. But Chagaev doesn't look dead at all. He's got a fairly bad cut, but stammina wise he's not too bad off. But in the last half of this round his back is against the ropes. Klitschko not really going for the kill, still cautious. Klitschko teeing off a bit now, but the round ends. Klitschko 10-9, overall 90-81.
Klitschko-Chagaev for the Ring and SportsRatings Heavyweight Belt, but who is Linear champ?
The WBA has announced that it won't recognize the winner of today's Wladimir Klitschko-Ruslan Chagaev clash as its champion. Despite Chagaev's status with the WBA as "champion in recess" it appears that Nicolay Valuev will remain their champ.
Chagaev defeated Valuev two years ago and a rematch has been slated since. It hasn't happened due to Chagaev's health problems (achilles tendon, Hepatitis B) but came within a day of happening in late May. But doctors in Finland wouldn't certify Chagaev as posing no risk of transmitting Hepatitis B, so the fight was off. Meanwhile David Haye pulled out of his contest with Klitschko, and Chagaev became the replacement.
Still, the WBA won't recognize the winner. The interesting question is, what will they do if he wins? Probably keep his as Champion in Recess and have him fight Valuev, somewhere other than Finland. If he loses, Valuev may become their champ, or they still might fight.
The WBA is clearly the most convoluted of the alphabet belts at this time. Their rankings are mind-boggling, in some ways; first they have two champions. Then, Kali Meehan the top challenger? Evander Holyfield just outside the top ten? John Ruiz #3, after all these years?
Ring Magazine is going to recognize the champ, giving them their first champ in years. Klitschko is #1, Chagaev #3. Klitschko and Chagaev are #1 and #2 in the Sportsratings Heavyweight Top 100, and the winner will be #1 after today. I'm assuming that the IBF and WBO would recognize Chagaev as their champion if he wins, and the IBO formula would certainly move Chagaev up to #1 as well. But who is the linear champion?
Who is the linear (lineal) heavyweight champion?
It's always a tough question as to what to do when the lineage is broken, and furthermore, when a retired champ comes back. We've had both of those cases in the last five years.
First, Lennox Lewis, the undisputed lineal champion, retired. Lewis inherited the title from Rahman, who upset Lewis to get it. Before that, the line goes back in time: Briggs, Foreman, Moorer, Holyfield, Bowe, Holyfield, Douglas, Tyson, Spinks, Holmes, Ali, L. Spinks, Ali, Foreman, Frazier, Ali, Liston, Patterson, Johanssen, Patterson.
That entire line was unbroken, with the new fighter beating the previous champ. Rocky Marciano's retirement broke the lineage, like Lennox Lewis's retirement did. An agreement was formed as to who should fight for the title (Patterson and Moore) and the winner started the line again.
The same thing happened when Lewis retired. It was agreed, by most, that Vitali Klitschko, who narrowly lost to Lewis, and Corrie Sanders (who beat Wladimir Klitschko convincingly) would fight for the WBO crown and that this would re-establish the line. So far, nothing that hasn't happened before in boxing history.
But after Klitschko won and made a few defenses, he also retired. This was problematic for the lineage! A new champ—one who hadn't expressly "earned" the lineal title—was retiring. This was similar to Gerald Ford's presidency. Ford, never even elected Vice President, took over as President when Nixon resigned. There wasn't even agreement on who the two top fighters were to re-establish the line.
For some reason, the ex-champ's brother seemed a good replacement. So now it wasn't "the man who beat the man" but "the brother of the man who almost beat the man." Either his fight with undefeated Sam Peter, or his subsequent win over highly-ranked Chris Byrd, established him as the lineal champ.
But then there was another wrench thrown into the works. Vitali came out of retirement. This had happened many times before: John Sullivan was mostly retired when he fought and lost to James Corbett; James Jeffries passed the title to Jack Johnson; Joe Louis re-emerged and ultimately passed on the title to Marciano via Ezzard Charles and Jersey Joe Walcott; and Ali twice did the same, first losing to Joe Frazier, and then un-retiring to lose to Larry Holmes.
Each time, the budding "lineage" was replaced by "the real thing", i.e the concept of "the man who beat the man" became more important than whatever occurred in the previous few years with the interloping champ. So what does that say about today?
It says that, for consistency's sake, Vitali Klitschko is the true lineal heavyweight champion, not Wladimir. Complicating matters is that he will never fight his brother, so the only way for Wlad to claim that title is for Vitali to lose, and Wlad to beat that man.
So people talking about resolving the Ring situation in terms of the Lineal champion are mistaken. The Ring tends to honor the "man who beat the man" concept, but what they do when a fighter retires, and when a fighter retires and re-emerges, is different than what's been done historically to track the lineal championship.
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