WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO TKO end of 9 RUSLAN CHAGAEV

It was the mixture as before from “Dr. Steelhammer” Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday in Germany, a steady softening-up process and then a finishing barrage when his opponent was wilting and waiting to be stopped.

Klitschko’s cautious approach will always lead to criticism, but as a heavyweight technician he is almost faultless. Not many boxers can control the pace of a fight with the apparent ease that Klitschko has been doing in his recent appearances.

Saturday’s opponent, Ruslan Chagaev, was durable and game but he had no hope of winning. Even though two judges gave Chagaev the sixth round, this was a mismatch and it was a relief when trainer Michael Timm humanely retired his bloodied fighter at the end of nine rounds.

Chagaev had clearly had enough. He was cut severely over the left eye, weary and disheartened, and Klitschko was starting to unload the heavy artillery towards the end of round nine (U.S. judge Don Trella made the ninth a 10-8 round in favour of the IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight champ). Why send out a beaten man to get needlessly pounded in the next round?

Klitschko's style is not to everyone’s liking, but this big man is very hard to beat. He keeps the long left hand in the other man’s face, following with the straight right hand every now and again, and when his opponent steps toward him, Klitschko simply steps back out of range.

Charging straight at Klitschko is a risky proposition because the other fighter doesn’t want to run into a right hand, doubling the impact of the blow. If the other fighter stays back and tries to figure things out he is likely to be picked off all night, and as boxer B.J. Flores mentioned in the commentary on ESPN Classic, all those punches from a man of Klitschko’s size can have a cumulative effect.

I don’t think I have ever seen Klitschko look quite as relaxed as he did against Chagaev. There was not a hint, for instance, of the apparent hyperventilation that he has exhibited in some of his past bouts. On Saturday, he boxed in the manner of a boxer with total self-belief.

Chagaev, meanwhile, was in a quandary. As long as he stayed back with gloves up in front of his face he wasn’t getting punished too severely, but every time he brought his gloves away from a defensive position to try to land the left hand from his southpaw style he was leaving himself exposed to hard, straight shots — and Klitschko is very accurate.

I felt considerable sympathy for Chagaev. He is a proud man and didn’t want to give in, but he was in a hopeless situation, being not only outclassed but also embarrassed — a couple of times Klitschko almost casually hooked him around the back of the neck with his left glove and steered him in the wrong direction. Klitschko was making it look easy, almost like a sparring session.

Chagaev lasted as long as he did because Klitschko is content to place his punches on target, almost “boxing off the back foot” as they say in Britain, until he is ready to commit himself to a more forceful approach. Once Klitschko starts to step in with his punches, however, and really get some weight behind the right hands, you know that the target in front of him has been reduced to rubble and it is time for the final assault. With Chagaev backed up on the ropes and getting hammered by right hands in the ninth, it was painfully obvious that even if he survived the round, the end was close at hand. Trainer Michael Timm knew this only too well, gently whispering in Chagaev’s ear (presumably to tell him that he was going to pull him out of the fight) before shaking his head to indicate “That’s enough.”

I do believe that the well-documented health and injury issues had taken something out of Chagaev, but, still, he was considered a top-ranking heavyweight, and Klitschko dominated him. It was, for me anyway, an impressive job of work.