Wladimir Klitschko vs Lamon Brewster II

On July 7, 2007, at the Kölnarena in Cologne, Germany, Wladimir Klitschko settled an old account with Lamon Brewster in a manner that was as complete as it was methodical. Klitschko, defending the IBF and IBO heavyweight titles, stopped Brewster after six completed rounds when the challenger’s trainer, Buddy McGirt, withdrew his man before the seventh could begin. The official result was a retirement at 3:00 of the sixth round. Klitschko weighed 243lb, Brewster 228lb, and the contest was fought before a large German crowd which had come expecting not merely a title defence, but a form of sporting redress.

The significance lay in their first meeting three years earlier in Las Vegas, when Brewster had produced one of the more startling heavyweight reversals of the period by stopping Klitschko in the fifth round for the vacant WBO title. On that night, Klitschko had been well ahead, had knocked Brewster down, and then had collapsed under pressure and fatigue in circumstances that followed him for years. Since then, under the guidance of Emanuel Steward, he had become a more measured and less reckless fighter. Brewster, by contrast, entered the rematch after 15 months out of the ring following his defeat by Siarhei Liakhovich, a punishing bout in which he suffered a serious eye injury requiring surgery. He was brave enough to take the assignment, but bravery alone was not enough against the improved Klitschko.

From the opening round, the pattern was plain. Klitschko boxed tall, kept his left hand working constantly, and gave Brewster almost nothing at close quarters. The jab was not a range-finder so much as the central weapon of the contest, stiff, repetitive and accurate. Brewster tried to edge forward, hoping to recreate the kind of pressure that had disturbed Klitschko in 2004, but he could not get close enough to make the champion uncomfortable. Klitschko’s right hand was used sparingly early, but the threat of it was enough to keep Brewster cautious. The American’s head movement was limited, his feet slow, and each advance was met by the jab before it had properly begun.

The second and third rounds brought no meaningful alteration. Brewster remained willing, but he was being held at the end of Klitschko’s arms and made to pay for every step. Klitschko did not rush his work. He moved only as much as required, tied up when Brewster got too close, and resumed his position in the centre of the ring. It was a performance built on discipline rather than drama. Brewster occasionally threw wide hooks, mostly in hope rather than conviction, but they fell short or were smothered. By the end of the third, the challenger’s face was already showing the effect of the jab, and his chances of turning the fight by attrition were fading quickly.

In the fourth and fifth rounds, Klitschko increased his authority without abandoning caution. His jab continued to land at a heavy rate, and the right hand began to appear more often behind it. Brewster, who had earned his reputation by absorbing punishment and finding a way back, could not find the necessary foothold. He was not being overwhelmed in wild exchanges; he was being taken apart in straight lines. Klitschko’s height, reach, and improved defensive habits denied him the kind of ragged moments on which he had prospered in the first fight. The champion’s work was clean, repetitive and damaging, and the three judges had him well ahead through six rounds, each scoring it 60-54.

The sixth round supplied the clearest evidence that the contest had become one-sided. Klitschko landed heavy left-right combinations and rocked Brewster, who remained upright but was now taking punishment with little realistic prospect of return. Brewster’s courage was not in question, but his effectiveness was. McGirt had seen enough. Rather than allow his fighter to take further punishment in a fight he was not winning and could no longer change, he stopped it in the corner before the seventh round. It was a sensible decision, and Brewster did not dispute it afterwards.

The statistics reflected what the eye had already shown. Klitschko landed 199 punches from 434 thrown, a 46 per cent connection rate, while Brewster landed only 70 of 248, or 28 per cent. More telling was Klitschko’s jab, which accounted for 162 of his connects and kept Brewster under control from first bell to last. It later emerged that Klitschko had broken the middle finger of his left hand in the opening round, a detail made more notable by the fact that the left hand remained his dominant punch throughout the fight.

For Klitschko, the result was both a title defence and a correction of one of the most damaging defeats of his career. He improved to 49-3, while Brewster fell to 33-4. More importantly, Klitschko demonstrated how far he had travelled since the unsettled fighter who had lost to Brewster in 2004. There was no panic, no waste, no invitation for the challenger to turn the fight into a brawl. Brewster had once beaten him in chaos; this time, Klitschko allowed no chaos at all.