Wladimir Klitschko ko’s Rahman to retain IBF & WBO heavyweight belts

There’s an old sports adage that “speed kills”, but in the case of Wladimir Klitschko “height kills”.  More specifically, the way that the reigning WBO and IBF heavyweight champion uses his height and reach that makes him a particularly difficult matchup for any opponent.  The latest to fall victim to his heavy hands and punishing jab was former World Champion Hasim Rahman, whom was outclassed by Klitschko from the opening bell en route to an seventh round TKO. 

In front of his adopted home fans in Manheim, Germany Klitschko had no problem whatsoever with Rahman whose handspeed has slowed considerably in the twilight of his career.  He had great difficulty getting inside to effective mount an offense against Klitschko, a problem exacerbated by his seeming somewhat “gun shy”.  Rahman’s best moments came in the fourth round, where he did some solid work to the body of the heavyweight champion.

Klitschko dropped Rahman in the sixth round with a couple of hard left hands, and after he got to his feet the challenger spent the remaining time in the corner absorbing a beating.  He answered the bell for the seventh round, but when Klitschko unleashed another barrage of punches at the beginning of the frame veteran referee Tony Weeks had seen enough.  Weeks waved off the contest at the 44 second mark of round number seven and awarded the champion a TKO victory.

With the victory Klitschko raised his record to an impressive 52-3 with 46 wins by way of knockout.  Long gone are the days where many questioned his resolve and ability to take a punch.  Under trainer Emmanuel Steward, Klitschko has learned to better leverage his height and reach advantage much in the same way as another Steward charge, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.  He’s also become a more efficient fighter, using his punches in a more tactical manner allowing him to preserve his energy for later in the fight.

Rahman dropped to 45-7-2 with the loss.  He was a late replacement for undefeated Russian Alexander Povetkin whom pulled out of the fight last month due to an ankle injury. 

After the fight, Klitschko mentioned Povetkin, Nikolai Valuev and David Haye (who is scheduled to face brother Vitaly in June) as potential future opponents.