How clinical Klitschkos ended razzmatzz

Heavyweight kings. . . Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko celebrate another victory.

A fierce left hook ended it in the fifth round. Despite the clinical finish and the thunderous punch, the news went largely unnoticed. The event was heavyworld champion Wladimir Klitschko defending his four championship belts. 

The event took place on Saturday in Hamburg, Germany. And how did the heavyweight title fight end up being a brief in the newspapers, and even crucially, non-event on radio, is quite astonishing. What happened to the days when the heavyweight championship was top billing for weeks ahead of the date, and big news on the fight weekend until the Monday. On Monday November 17, my paper Sowetan did not carry an article on the event. The Times had it as the shortest brief in a column of four briefs. 

So what happened to the biggest slam of not just boxing but world sport as a whole? This is the station that made Muhammad Ali a legend that he is; where would he be had he been the flyweight champion? I don't mean to insult boxers in the lighter divisions, but the heavyweight propelled professional boxing to zenith heights and gave the sport more excitement and better known sportsmen. Imagine names like Joe "Brown Bomber" Louis, Rocky Marciano, George Foreman, Ken Norton, Larry Holmes, Mike Tyson and Evander Hollyfield. The latter was essentially an engineered heavyweight because he wasn't getting any love dominating the junior-heavyweight division. So Hollyfield stepped up and got respect.

There were other fine heavyweights such as Sonny Liston, Earnie Shavers and in latter years Lennox Lewis. And in SA we still believe the likes of Leon Spinks, John Tate and Mike Weavers were the real deal though in honest truth they earned some fame just because they were heavyweights and heavyweight fighting was big news.
Then came the Klitschkos -  Vitali and Wladslaw. The Ukrainian pair emerged on the scene with doctorates, an unconventional amour for heavyweight boxing. Both brothers were born in unusual places because of the work of their military officer father during the days of the Soviet Union. Vitali was born July 19 1971 in Belovodsk, Kyrgyzstan, while Wladimir was born in Semy, Kazakhstan, on March 25, 1976. They also grew up in East Germany as their  father was a military attache there for the USSR. 

Vitali was nicknamed Dr Ironfist for the stranglehold he had on the heavyweight title, which returned the second highest knockout rate (87.23%) after Marciano's 87.76%. He holds a PhD in sports science. Vitali, now retired, is the current mayor of Kiev, Ukraine's capital.
Wladimir, or Dr Steelhammer, also holds a PhD in sports science. The Klitschkos are studious, disciplined and hard working, values perhaps inherited from the high ranking military officer their father was. Their clinical approach, which has yielded a total of mere five losses out of  113 wins, speaks volumes about their ability in the ring. Clearly this is untouchable, and therefore killed off any challenge, hype, vibrancy in the heavyweight division. Moreover, the Ukrainians have taken the title from the US and its hype masters.

For the record, Wladimir's fight on Saturday was against IBF's mandatory challenger Kubrat Pulev from Bulgaria. He was unbeaten in 20 pro fights before he was sledgehammered in the fifth in the World Arena. 
Wladimir Klitschko is now the longest reigning IBF, WBO & IBO heavyweight champion in history with the most title defenses for those organisations. Overall, he is the second longest reigning heavyweight champion of all time with the second most successful career grand total title defenses,  22. 

With a total of 26 world championship fights, he is just one fight behind Joe Louis' tally of 27 title fights. With stats like these, and big personalities the Klitschkos have, heavyweight boxing perhaps is waiting for their era to pass before the rumble and the razzmatazz offered by boxers from the streets returns.

Bafana hobble back to life after tragedy

Handover. . . Black Aces goalkeeper Jackson Mabokgwane, left, seems to be receiving a happy endorsement from late SA and Orlando Pirates goalie Senzo Meyiwa. Both are former national under-20 keepers

Today Bafana Bafana will try to walk the path back to normalcy as coach Shakes Mashaba names his new squad post the death and burial of captain and No1 keeper Senzo Meyiwa. 
Needless to say, all eyes will be focused on the new developments in the two positions Meyiwa had brilliantly held up in the four matches which marked Mashaba's return as national coach. 

The shrewd Mashaba has sprung surprise on his team selection, including the naming of Meyiwa as captain as well as giving then 17 year old Rivaldo Coetzee senior caps. But what has been clear with Mashaba's choices is that he is guided by the players' form and experiences during their time in the South African under-20 team. This is where he has marked himself clearly different from his predecessors, who were hoodwinked by celebrated players in top PSL clubs for their selection.

The results had been disastrous for Pitso Mosimane and Gordon Igesund, as their tried and tested "stars" consistently failed when it mattered the most, mostly so in this year's CHAN tournament. This second tier African championship had provided Igesund with a grand opportunity to select a young squad.

SuperSport United's Rowen Williams is strongly favoured to be recalled. Williams is a former national under-20 keeper, and so is the more senior Darren Keet, who was Meyiwa's deputy. The third goalkeeper is the current Amajita (U20) goalie Dumisani Msibi. But I prefer another former Amajita keeper Jackson Mabokgwane to be called. Apart from enjoying phenomenal form currently, as seen with man of the match showing as his club Mpumalanga Black Aces beat Meyiwa-led Orlando Pirates three weeks ago,

Mabokgwane will add more experience and vigour in the goalkeeping department. He's 26, while Belgium-based Keet is 25. Williams and his SuperSport teammate Msibi are still young at 22 and 19 respectively. So one of them should be considered as the third keeper to the more senior Keet and Mabokgwane. This is the explanation Mashaba advanced when explaining why he had chosen Msibi ahead of Williams in previous assignments. He said two keepers should be ready to play, while the third must be a young player who must be around to learn.

No doubt Meyiwa's choice as Bafana captain was brave and worked like a charm, which further cemented Mashaba's plaudits as a keen reader of the game. This time it appears it will be toss-up between defender Tefu Mashamaite and Dean Furman. Mashamaite is already captain at Chiefs, and is widely respected for his clean image and dedication to the game. The same can be said about Furman, whose dogged presence in the midield and defence has helped carry the new-look Bafana to new heights.

Furman has leadership qualities and also knows a lot about being captain, after he was appointed skipper at Oldham Athletic before joining current club Doncaster Rovers in England. In his youth football days Furman captained Glasgow Rangers' under-19, a quality which Mashaba seems to be enthusiastic about when making his crucial team decisions.

It's a wait and see. . .

In command . . . Dean Furman has proven his leadership qualities in Bafana Bafana.