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By Johnny Walker
After being coy about his strategy leading up his title defense against Jean Marc Mormeck tonight in Dusseldorf, Germany, world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko promised his German fans—50,000 of them in the arena alone—via a prefight video that he would now get his 50th knockout as a professional.
Perhaps in response to the negative tone of some of the prefight chatter heard in the boxing press, Klitschko was focused and aggressive right from the start. It was soon apparent that Wladimir was determined that he would not be answering any queries at the post-fight presser as to why Jean Marc Mormeck was able to do so well against him.
The French challenger tried to bob and weave a la Dereck “Del Boy” Chisora versus Wlad’s older brother Vitali, but lacking Chisora’s strength and firepower, it was a doomed strategy. Klitschko continually strafed Mormeck with his patented power left jab, a punch which for him is an offensive weapon. Mormeck almost immediately was forced into survival mode.
Mormeck was already in big trouble in round two, when he was sent the canvas from a powerful Klitschko right hand, but on this occasion he beat the count and saw out the round.
Wlad was manhandling Mormeck in a sloppy round three, pushing him around the ring with ease. Three rapid-fire left hooks saw the challenger reeling, and he and the champion got their feet tangled, going to the canvas in a heap.
The end came for Mormeck in round four, when Klitschko put together a vicious left-right-left combination to Mormeck’s head, sending him to the canvas for the final time. He was counted out by referee Luis Pabon at 1:12 of the round.
The fight brought a satisfying close to three straight weeks of exciting heavyweight action, with Wladimir Klitschko (57-3, 50 KOs), delivering his promised 50th knockout to the adoring crowd.
Following the fight, the champion said, “It was important to break [Mormeck] in the first two rounds.”
“I’m happy about the result, not too long, just [the] right timing.”
Klitschko named British heavyweights David Price and Tyson Fury, along with WBA “regular” champion Alexander Povetkin and Seth Mitchell, as possible future opponents.
But it is former Vitali victim Cristobal Arreola who Wladimir has his eye on next –hopefully at a venue in America.
“He’s done enough to deserve a fight against me,” said the champion of Arreola, who has rebuilt his career following his loss to Vitali in 2009.
After this dominant showing by Wladimir, it seems that Arreola–and anyone else who challenges the champion–will definitely have his work cut out for him.
