From ESPN:
www.espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/10850453/lucas-matthysse-john-molina-early-fight-year-candidate
Wladimir Klitschko KO5 Alex Leapai
by Dan Rafael
Records: Klitschko (62-3, 53 KOs); Leapai (30-5-3, 24 KOs)
Rafael's remarks: For all of those who complain about Klitschko and harp on the fact that he got knocked out in his losses, they should remember that the last time he lost was more than 10 years ago. Isn't it possible that a fighter can learn from losses? Improve from those losses? Obviously, it is, even if some opt to ignore that. Nonetheless, the champ has improved vastly from those defeats and he just keeps rolling on, racking up more wins, more defenses, more knockouts and plowing his way deeper and deeper in the heavyweight history book.
He destroyed Leapai, 34, of Australia, an ill-conceived mandatory challenger who got the shot based on a surprisingly impressive points win (with two knockdowns) against previous mandatory Denis Boytsov, who took the fight as a tuneup and was upset. So Klitschko, 38, of Ukraine, had no choice but to fight this fight if he wanted to keep his alphabet belts, which he does.
The 6-foot, 248-pound Leapai had no game plan other than try to wing a shot and nail Klitschko with a lucky punch. That will not work against the 6-6, 248-pound Klitschko, who has a high boxing IQ, knows the ring, knows his weaknesses and is awesome with his strengths. He used his long reach advantage to keep Leapai at the end of his powerful jab and set him up beautifully for his left-right combinations. Klitschko even worked a bit to Leapai's available body. Klitschko is versatile, quick, powerful and unbeatable if you can't get close to him, and Leapai never got close. Instead, Klitschko pounded him with jabs and right hands. One of the jabs dropped him in the first round, although he was not too badly hurt. But the rest of the fight was target practice. In the fifth round, Klitschko floored him hard with a clean right hand in the midst of a combination. Moments later he ate another powerful right, dropped like a rock near the ropes and referee Eddie Cotton waved it off at 2 minutes, 5 seconds. It was not competitive at all, but Klitschko did exactly what he was expected to do -- dominate and drill an inferior opponent.
Klitschko's dominance is illustrated in the mind-boggling CompuBox statistics. He outlanded Leapai 147-10. That is amazing. He landed nearly as many jabs (67) as Leapai threw total punches (69). And Klitschko closed the show brilliantly, landing 31 of 49 punches in the fifth round while Leapai landed none of his 10 punches.
The historic numbers continue to mount for Klitschko. This was his 16th title defense of his second reign, good for second place in division history behind Larry Holmes' 20 and Joe Louis' 25. Last week, Klitschko marked eight years with a heavyweight title, second-longest in heavyweight history behind only Louis' 8 years, 8 months and 11 days. And Klitschko, also a 1996 super heavyweight Olympic gold medalist, moved to 23-2 overall in world heavyweight title fights.
Klitschko has no plans to retire any time soon and is hoping to emulate Bernard Hopkins, boxing's oldest titleholder at 49 and still near the top. Other than perhaps looking to challenge the record for defenses and length of reign, the only thing left for Klitschko to remotely accomplish would be to pick up the one alphabet belt he has never won, which is because older brother Vitali Klitschko held it until vacating it and retiring in December. That belt will be filled by the winner of the May 10 rematch between Bermane Stiverne and Chris Arreola. Although the winner is supposed to face mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder next, Klitschko wants to fight the winner and the Stiverne-Arreola winner should want Klitschko also, as it is by far the biggest payday. Hopefully, the sanctioning organizations will do the right thing and allow it to happen. We can dream can't we?
