KLITSCHKO EXPOSED, THEN KO'ED IN THE 2ND ROUND

By Ron Brashear
Inside Boxing Writer/Columnist

(IB – March 08, 2003) – This is not a typo! It’s a KO! Wladimir Klitschko (40-2, 37 KOs) had intended for tonight to be a mere tune up when he took on Corrie Sanders in Hanover, Germany.

Well, what he found out was that Corrie Sanders (39-2, 29KOs), of South Africa, had different plans and came to fight instead of being an opponent in awe to take a whipping.

It didn't take long to expose the fact that Wladimir Klitschko has a GLASS chin. Sanders dropped Klitschko with a left hook at 2:24 into the 1st round. Wladimir got back to his feet and was dropped again with :16 seconds left in the round. By the time he made it back to his feet this time, followed by a standing eight count, the round was ending before Sanders could land another punch, otherwise there wouldn't have been a 2nd round.

So we move to the 2nd round with a cut over Klitschko's left eye and pure panic in the corner as Wladimir comes out for more.

That's exactly what he got, more, more left hands to his head! Seven seconds into the second round, Sanders lands another straight left-hand to the jaw and dropped Klitschko for the 3rd time in the fight. When the fighting resumed after Klitschko made it back to his feet, Sanders threw, you guessed it, another left to the head that sent the retreating Klitschko to the canvas for the 4th and final time of the night. The referee, Genaro Rodriguez, called a halt to the fight at :27 seconds into the 2nd round and Corrie Sanders wins the WBO Heavyweight title with a major upset!

This will send the boxing world wondering if Klitschko had some glass in his chin all along, but had been handled very fragilely up to this point.

Again, he was exposed and then KO'ed! Only time will tell if he can rebound from this setback. In the meantime, the attention will be on his older brother, Vitali Klitschko to see if he can land the big Heavyweight title fight and redeem the Klitschko mystique.

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Ron Brashear can be contacted at brashear@insideboxing.com, ron@brasheargear.com