PHONETOOL

Madison Square Garden in New York, will play host to WBC heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, as he defends his crown against challenger Calvin Brock on Saturday, November 11, at 10:00 PM ET/7:00 PM PT.
HBO CH 300 and HBO Latino CH 309 will broadcast the title fight.


IBF and IBO World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko will defend his titles against the American Calvin Brock on November 11 in New York. Brock, 31, from Charlotte, North Carolina, remains undefeated in his 29 professional fights to date. 22 of them came by knockout. He is ranked No. 3 by the IBF and WBA, and No. 4 by the WBC.

Wladimir Klitschko said: "Calvin Brock is a powerful challenger; his immaculate record as a pro and outstanding amateur career speak for themselves. I know how dangerous Brock is and will not underestimate him by any means."

Calvin Brock: "I’ve always said that I would be the Heavyweight World Champion one day. On November 11, my dream will finally come true. I’m going to beat Klitschko!" In June, Brock celebrated a clear win on points against the previously undefeated Timor Ibragimov in Las Vegas, winning the WBC Central American title. Nor did the two-time world title challenger Jameel McCline stand a chance against Brock last year.

Wladimir Klitschko, 30, will celebrate a double anniversary at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden: 10 years as a professional boxer, and his 50th pro fight.

The 1996 Olympic medalist won 46 of them, 41 by KO, and suffered three defeats. Klitschko was WBO World Heavyweight Champion from 2000 - 2003, and won the IBF title this April by knocking out longstanding champion Chris Byrd from the U.S. in the seventh round in Mannheim.

The heavyweight fight of the year will be broadcast on RTL in Germany, on the number one US boxing channel HBO, and in over 100 other countries.

IBF Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko (45-3, 41 KO's) Hamburg, Germany via Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. 30-year-old, 6'6", 240 pounds, trainer of record Emanuel Steward, self-managed.

Style: Klitschko is a large robotic muscular behemoth that lands clubbing shots and tends to run of gas. The former WBO heavyweight champ is a fundamentally sound stand up boxer puncher who looks very impressive physically but has a long history of falling apart in the later rounds of critical bouts. However, as he showed when he defeated Chris Byrd seven months ago in Germany, if he hurts you he can end the show and the evening with thundering shots. It may be period basic boxing strategy but you have to like a guy who fires hard left jabs followed by whistling right hands down the middle.

Strength: Well, he hits hard when he can locate the target. If you stand in front of Klitschko and trade leather, unless you have a titanium chin you should expect to end up looking at the ring lights. The best thing that has happened to Klitschko lately has been having Manny Stewart in his corner. Klitschko has rediscovered his deadly left jab and behind that comes a thundering right cross. Klitschko force fed Byrd a steady diet of hard left jabs followed by even harder right crosses and while it seems like basic boxing it still works! Klitschko had a surprisingly stout left hook that was on display against Samuel Peter and occasionally he was able to land. Improved training habits but more importantly the ability to relax in the ring and not use up all his energy are keys for Klitschko's performance.

Weakness: As we have mentioned many times he is a gas guzzler that can come up empty any time after the fourth round. Where does that stamina go? We are clueless because he trains hard, works in camp and looks cut but lots of times he appears to be fighting on vapors. You sometimes wonder if it is a loss of confidence after the Corrie Sanders fight? Klitschko's lateral movement is poor but he is so big it doesn't take much for him to step left or right and still cut off the ring.

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Challenger Calvin "The Boxing Banker" Brock (29-0, 22 KO's), Charlotte, North Carolina. 31-years-old, 6'2", 224 pounds, trainer of record Tom Yankello, managed by Jim Thomas.

Style: Brock is a competent and strong counter puncher that has crafted a perfect record by racking up victories over a lot of guys without much street cred. He doesn't set the house on fire but rather methodically goes upon his job with the passion of, well, a banker. Sharp left jabs followed by occasional hard straight hands are his basic calling cards. However, if he can get you to lead he will fire and connect with stunning right hand counters. He will look to get you out of position and then make you miss before returning fire with crisp right crosses.

Strength: Brock's best weapon is a strong left jab that sets up his above average right cross. He is a thinking man's fighter in the ring and waits for you to make a mistake so he can counter with right hands to the head. He is one of those athletes that doesn't do any one thing particularly great, however, he is very fundamentally sound and that has resulted in wins. Brock maintains his poise, doesn't get out of position and that has allowed him to flourish as a counter punching heavyweight.

Weakness: If Brock was a basketball team he would play everything in halfcourt sets. He slows down the action, look to counter his opponents and waits for you to make a mistake. That sometimes leads to boring fights, as he grinds out victories. If someone is able to sustain an extended attack it will be interesting to see how he reacts to getting his chin tested. If Brock falls behind early he doesn't have the power to score late round KO's.

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Statistics

Wladimir Klitschko ---------------------------------Calvin Brock
Nationality : Ukrainian ------------------------Nationality : US American
Alias : Steelhammer / Dr. -----------------------Alias : The Boxing Banker
Hometown : Hamburg, Germany -----------Hometown : Charlotte, NC, USA
Birthplace : Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan -----Birthplace : Charlotte, NC, USA
Rated at : Heavyweight -------------------------Rated at : Heavyweight
World Rank : 1 / 888 -----------------------------World Rank : 7 / 888
Date of Birth: 1976-03-25 ---------------------Date of Birth: 1975-01-22
Age : 30 -----------------------------------------------Age : 31
Reach : 81” -------------------------------------------Reach : 77''
Stance : Orthodox ---------------------------------Stance : Orthodox
Height : 6' 6 -----------------------------------------Height : 6' 2
Trainer : Emanuel Steward ----------------------Trainer : Tom Yankello
Manager : Self --------------------------------Manager : Jim Thomas
Record: W 46|L 3|D 0|Total 49 ---------Record: W 29|L 0|D 0| Total 29
Ko's: 41 ko's ----------------------------------------Ko's: 22 ko's


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Wladimir Klitschko Vs Calvin Brock Undercard

A tremendous supporting cast has been added to the Wladimir Klitschko vs. Calvin Brock World Heavyweight Championship card at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, November 11 th.



“We now have two World Title fights, an IBF eliminator, and two NY State Championships,” announced Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions.
Undefeated Laila Ali (22-0, 19 KO's) makes her Madison Square Garden debut as she squares off against #3 rated Shelley Burton (8-2-1, 2 KO's), in a Super Middleweight Championship Bout. Ali will be defending her WBC and WIBA titles.

Former WBC Featherweight Champion, the “Flushing Flash” Kevin Kelley (59-7, 39 KO's) faces Mexican star and former five-time Featherweight Champion Manuel Medina (66-15, 31 KO's) in a 12 round IBF Jr. Lightweight elimination bout. Kelley, who has headlined the Garden before in his epic fight against Naseem Hamed, is coming off an impressive victory over former champion Carlos Hernandez. Kelley is a former Golden Glove Champion as well.

“We wanted to keep a strong NY presence on the show,” stated Loeffler, “In addition to Kevin Kelley from Flushing, Queens, we put on two NY State title fights.”


NY State Heavyweight Champion, undefeated Derric Rossy (13-0, 8 KO’s), from Medford, Long Island, will make the second defense of his title against Shannon Miller(14-2, 8 KO’s), from Troy, NY. Rossy won the super heavyweight Golden Gloves Championship in 2004.

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dmbuffalohead

Never done this before, so, just excuse me for a second while check out some stuff

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Quote:

Push It To The Limit

Boxing

Brock is the only undefeated top American heavyweight contender.

The quality of the competition against which Brock has fashioned his pretty 29-0 record is questionable. But what got him here matters no more. What matters is that he's here.

Klitschko, however, is younger, taller by four inches, and most damaging, he's quicker.

Klitschko's defense is erratic. Brock's best chance is to hurt him with a big punch, and I think Brock will get his big shot in. I also don't think it will be enough.

Klitschko (46-3, 41 KOs), who is 6-6 and weighed in at 241 pounds, has a size advantage over Brock, who is 6-2, 224 1/2 pounds.




However, it appears that Wladimir may already be looking past Brock, based on Wladimir's comments in the press about wanting to fight the WBA heavyweight champion Nikolay Valuev in 2007. Bear in mind, the likelihood of this ever happening, at least in the short term, is remote to say the least. More than that, however, it seems to indicate that Wladimir is taking Brock far too lightly as an opponent.

Why Wladimir would choose to look past Brock, a fighter that is as good as any of the current heavyweight champions, is beyond me. In particular, Brock is one of the best boxing technicians in the game, and not only fights smart, but also with a lot of toughness. If there's anyone that can find a hole in Wladimir's leaky defense, its Brock, who will be surely studying hard to find out all of Wladimir's faults.

For those who are unfamiliar with Brock, he's previously beaten tough fighters, such as Jameel McCline and Timor Ibragimov. He may not have the same Olympic success that Wladimir did, but he has enough power to put Wladimir on his seat, if he connects with the Ukrainian's chin.

In the not too distant past, we've seen what happens to Wladimir Klitschko when he overlooks an opponent. Against tough knockout artists like Ross Puritty, Corrie Sanders, and Lamon Brewster, Wladimir failed miserably, when he thought he could just walk over these tough veterans without any struggle. In each case, Wladimir was punished badly by being knocked out.

In normal cases, when a person makes a mistake, they study what they've done wrong and then try to learn from it. However, in Wladimir's case, it seems as if he fails to understand the reasons for his defeats. Unlike others, I don't see it as a chin issue or a problem with his nerves.

No, it's simpler than that. Wladimir, for his part, is too arrogant for his own good. Perhaps, like many conceited fighters before him, he probably reads his own press and when there's so much stuff said positively about him, he starts to actually believe it all. In the process, he forgets all the hard work involved that made him so good in the first place.

Since 2004, Wladimir has switched trainers, signing on with Emanuel Steward, the former trainer for Lennox Lewis. At the time, it seemed to me to be a knee-jerk reaction to Wladimir's loss to Corrie Sanders in 2003. As such, I felt that the move reeked of thoughtless desperation, as if Wladimir was looking for a magic bullet or possibly Dumbo's magic feather, none of which can be found by quickly changing trainers after a disappointing loss, particularly when things had been going well under Fritz Sdunek, his former trainer.

And, just like before, I see Wladimir quickly becoming over confident once again, perhaps fueled by his easy win over Chris Byrd, whom he knocked out in the 6th round, in April 2006. Brock, however, has much more power than Byrd, thus preventing Wladimir from wading in full bore like he did with Byrd.

Yet, if history is any indication of what will happen in the future, I expect Wladimir to storm out in the early rounds against Brock and try to overwhelm him with punches, without thinking about incoming return fire. Simply put, if Brock can stand his ground, and not panic under Wladimir's early withering attack, he's got an excellent chance at landing something big that will take out the Ukrainian fighter.

While I believe that Wladimir has the better offensive skills, he's just a little too cocky for his own good, and he'll leave a big opening for Brock to take advantage of by sending Wladimir down for the ten count.

Prediction: Brock by 8th round KO

PHONETOOL

Nice knockout Klitschko Wins

Screwpost

And now he's poised to unify. And you know what? He might just be able to do it. He's definitely got a good chance against Valuev due to his height, speed, and punching power. I don't think Oleg could match his stamina since Steward took over, and I don't even have to think about Briggs from what I saw out of him recently.

I was really hoping Brock could have provided Klitschko more of a challenge.

Oh - And how funny is it that they STILL keep slipping and refering to him as "Vitali". I think Lennox Lewis slipped twice. I keep expecting one of these days for Wlad to yell, (in broken english of course), "I'm a heavyweight champion daminitt! Please try and get this with correctness!"

bill1234

I expected Brock to do provide a little more competion for Klitchko I guess I was wrong.

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ERIK

I really doubt we will see a unification. The money is just to good for the guys with titles to fight easier fights & label it a heavyweight title fight.

Why risk loosing that. Maskaev would be crazy to fight one of these other guys when he can go fight a bum in russia & make good money in a "heavyweight title fight".

TommyGunn

i give klit all the respect in the world for this win and i think he's proved he's the best hw in the world, ive always liked calvin brock and fancied him to do a number on klit but im wrong (for the first time in age's). im not sure either if any of todays hw want to unify there's just to much risk for future paydays, i think we'll see all our champs now trying to set up a fight with holyfeild which will be a massive payday for them and a fight thet'll be confident of winning.

Screwpost

*Sniff* Tread lightly on my dreams, won't you? *Sniffle* I want to see the chaff wiped off the top of this heap-o-heavies.

daveDaboxingfan

i really wanted to see the upset