Wladimir Klitschko wins unification bout

NEW YORK—With one round to go in a drearily dominant performance, even Wladimir Klitschko’s trainer implored him to provide a thrill for a whistling, booing Madison Square Garden crowd that had been promised heavyweight action.
“You have to knock him out, or this is going to be bad,” Emanuel Steward pleaded with Klitschko in an exchange picked up by HBO’s microphones before the final round of his fight with Sultan Ibragimov. Klitschko wouldn’t do it, sticking with his plan to slap and poke his smaller opponent into oblivion. He might not always be exciting, but he’s probably the best heavyweight around — and he’s one belt closer to being the undisputed champion.
Far too strong and much too long, Klitschko barely took a punch while winning a unanimous decision Saturday night, defending his IBF title and claiming Ibragimov’s WBO belt in the first heavyweight unification fight in nearly nine years. “I’m happy to have three belts,” said Klitschko, who also holds the IBO title. “I’m happy to get the WBO belt back. That was the first title I had.” Klitschko, the chess-playing Ph.D. from a famed Ukrainian fighting family, used physics and simple geometry to remove nearly all risk from his meeting with Ibragimov, the previously unbeaten Russian underdog. The 6-foot-7 Klitschko is at least a half-foot taller and 20 pounds heavier than Ibragimov, who constantly appeared to be flailing against a mean-spirited older brother.
With little more than an insistent jab, Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) slapped and herded Ibragimov around the ring in front of a crowd of 14,011 filled with Russians who grumbled and jeered during the frequent stretches of inaction. “He was very difficult to fight,” Klitschko said. “He kept backing off. He’s very careful, but the result counts.”
Ibragimov (22-1-1) constantly strained to launch punches too small and slow to find their mark, and Klitschko appeared fresh and mostly unmarked at the final bell — even ready to go another 12 rounds with WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev, WBC champ Oleg Maskaev or contender Samuel Peter, the next opponents on his quest for heavyweight unity. Klitschko is determined to bring order to boxing’s fractured former glamour division by winning every major title. He appeared capable of the task in the most significant heavyweight fight in several years, winning his eighth straight bout and asserting his pre-eminence atop a division that has lacked an eminent champion since Lennox Lewis’ retirement.
From the opening round, Klitschko used his long left arm to slap down Ibragimov’s jabs with a patronizing ease. Klitschko also repeatedly stepped on Ibragimov’s lead foot, further nullifying the smaller fighter’s hopes of getting inside Klitschko’s incredible reach. Klitschko dominated nearly every round but did little significant damage until the eighth, when he staggered Ibragimov with a big left hook. Ibragimov slipped to the canvas later in the round, and Klitschko battered Ibragimov into the ropes early in the ninth.
Ibragimov seemed just as frustrated as the paying customers. “I thought he was a lot faster than he was in his last few fights,” Ibragimov said. “My plan was to work on being more active and come straight forward, but of course it was tough. This guy held a lot. ... He didn’t jab at all. He just chopped and grabbed all fight. I didn’t feel hurt at all, but I did feel Klitschko was winning.” Don Ackerman scored it 119-110 for Klitschko, while Chuck Giampa saw the fight 117-111 and Steve Weisfeld favored Klitschko 118-110.—Agencies