Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov

CompuBox Punchstats

Total Punches	Klitschko	Ibragimov
Landed	148	97
Thrown	348	316
Pct.	43%	31%
Jabs	Klitschko	Ibragimov
Landed	108	16
Thrown	245	137
Pct.	44%	12%
Power Punches	Klitschko	Ibragimov
Landed	40	81
Thrown	103	179
Pct.	39%	45%

Wladimir Klitschko 238 lbs beat Sultan Ibragimov 219 lbs by UD in round 12 of 12

• Date: 2008-02-23
• Location: Madison Square Garden, New York, New York, USA
• Referee: Wayne Kelly
• Judge: Chuck Giampa 117-111
• Judge: Don Ackerman 119-110
• Judge: Steve Weisfeld 118-110

• Aired on: HBO World Championship Boxing (USA), RTL (Germany), Inter (Ukraine) (Main Event)
• International Boxing Federation Heavyweight Title (4th defense by Klitschko)
  
• World Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (2nd defense by Ibragimov)
  
• International Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (4th defense by Klitschko)
  

Notes

• Deal signed on November 20, 2007.[1]
• This was the first heavyweight unification fight in which American fighters weren't involved.
• Televised in 200 countries.[2]
• HBO paid $7.2 million for the rights to broadcast the fight.[3]
• Tickets cost from $100 to $1,000.[4]
• The fight averaged 1.8 million viewers on HBO with 6.2 rating.[5]
• In Russia, the fight was watched by 9.5 million people.
• In Germany, the fight averaged 2.26 million viewers during live broadcast at 4:41 a.m. and 3.79 million viewers during the replay on the same day, combining 6.05 million average viewers.
• Klitschko earned approximately $9 million for the fight. He donated $500,000 of his earnings to to the Bronx's Laureus Sport for Good Foundation.
• This was Ibragimov's last professional boxing match. He announced his retirement in July 2009.

Ringside Boxing Report: Wladimir Klitschko vs. Sultan Ibragimov

By Jim Everett, Saddo Boxing, February 24, 2008

Saturday night in New York City at Madison Square Garden, Wladimir Klitschko, 50-3 (44), unified the IBF, IBO and WBO Heavyweight titles by defeating formerly unbeaten Sultan Ibragimov, 22-1-1 (17), in front of a very vocal group of 14,011 fans by scores of 119-110, 118-110 and 117-111.

Boxing fans can be a fickle bunch. It could be the fans felt that all the fights should end in a knockout considering the undercard bouts scored four KOs out of the six bouts. More likely it was the lack of action that caused the fans to go from cheering to booing as the fight progressed through twelve rounds of non-action.

The Compubox final punchstats clearly showed the lack of action during the bout. Klitschko landed 148 of 348 punches, that averaged out to him landing 12 of 29 punches per round.

Ibragimov landed only 97 of 316 punches, which averaged out to him landing a dismal 8 of 26 punches per round. For the record, Compubox indicates the average heavyweight throws an average of 46 punches per round.

The frustrating part of watching the match was that Klitschko seemed to land when he threw punches. His Compubox punchstats indicated him landing 43% of his punches thrown. But he continued to hold back his right and not let it go even after his trainer Emmanuel Steward would implore him to use it.

Klitschko seemed reluctant to engage or take any risks during the fight. He seemed to block the jabs of Ibragimov by pawing them down and would later say in the post fight interview that he did not want to throw the right for fear of being put out of position allowing Ibragimov to counter punch.

Perhaps Klitschko had visions of past performances and although had done well against southpaw Chris Byrd he suffered multiple knockdowns and a loss to southpaw Corrie Sanders because he just could not see the straight lefts coming at him.

However looking at the fight from another perspective such as maybe Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s, Klitshcko fought the perfect fight. He clearly dominated the bout, he did not get hit or put himself at risk and refused to engage his opponent in a brawl.

If you look past the fans reaction and even Klitshcko’s trainer Emmanuel Steward who were all looking for a knockout Klitshcko did everything right. Not too long ago when he suffered his loss to Brewster in their first outing he threw a lot of punches, expended all his energy and besides getting knocked out could not come close to finishing twelve rounds.

Klitschko has now been able to improve his skills, fight at a measured pace and reserve enough energy to finish the bout. He is also the only heavyweight to begin to try and unify the muddied division.

The old boxing saying, “styles make fights” holds true and these were two styles that did not make for a good fight. Even more concerning is WBA Heavyweight Champion Ruslan Chagaev has a very similar style to Ibragimov and if we are all hoping for a unified heavyweight champion we may be in store for a similar outcome. We should be careful what we wish for because we may just get it.[6]

Klitschko routs Ibragimov, unifies IBF and WBO titles

By Dan Rafael, ESPN, February 24, 2008

NEW YORK -- At last, the heavyweight division has a unified champion.

Wladimir Klitschko is that man.

It was not a scintillating fight and nobody will compare it to Ali-Frazier, but Klitschko dominated pesky Sultan Ibragimov on Saturday night to win a lopsided unanimous decision before 14,011 at Madison Square Garden as he unified his world title belt with Ibragimov's.

That leaves two more belts to go for Klitschko, one owned by Oleg Maskaev and the other by Ruslan Chagaev, who was ringside.

But Klitschko has a leg up on them and, in a division in which he is so clearly at the top, deserves to be called the champion, not a mere titleholder.

Klitschko was excited to have finally accomplished one of his primary goals of unifying belts despite the less-than-stellar bout, which he won 119-110, 118-110 and 117-111.

ESPN.com also scored it for Klitschko, 118-110.

"The result counts," he said. "I'm happy to get the WBO belt back because it was the first belt I won [in 2000 before losing it in 2003]."

But Klitschko, who also has the IBF title, knows there is more work to do.

"I just want to continue beating everyone to unify the rest of the belts," Klitschko said.

"I want to get the other two belts now."

That could be tough. Chagaev is looking at a meaningless fight against journeyman Luan Krasniqi.

Maskaev faces Samuel Peter on March 8 in Cancun, Mexico, and the winner will be obligated to face Vitali Klitschko, Wladimir's older brother.

Still, this fight was a step in the right direction.

It was the first unification bout in the division since Lennox Lewis outpointed Evander Holyfield in their 1999 rematch. And in an era when the division has been almost anonymous since the 2004 retirement of universally recognized champion Lewis -- who was ringside working HBO's broadcast -- it desperately needs a leader.

Klitschko has long been regarded as the No. 1 heavyweight and now maybe, just maybe, some will call him champ.

From Lewis' retirement until Saturday, the four major organizations sanctioned 33 so-called world heavyweight championship fights. So unifying has to count for something.

Besides, Klitschko has reigned longer than any of the other titleholders. He has dominated in all four of his defenses.

He finally picked up another belt.

And he received the endorsement of vanquished Ibragimov.

When asked whether he viewed Klitschko as the legitimate champion of the division, Ibragimov was on board. He nodded his head in approval.

It was almost a walk in the park for Klitschko against Ibragimov, a southpaw from Russia who won the silver medal in the 2000 Olympics.

Ukraine's Klitschko -- himself a gold medalist in 1996 -- beat him almost solely with his jab, a damaging, powerful left that he relied on from the opening bell.

He never even threw a right hand until the fourth round.

In the end, Klitschko (50-3, 44 KOs) landed 148 of 348 blows (43 percent) -- 108 of them jabs. Ibragimov (22-1-1, 17 KOs), who spent most of the fight leaning back and refusing to engage, landed only 97 of 316 blows (31 percent), not nearly enough to do any damage against 31-year-old Klitschko, who is 6-foot-5, three inches taller than Ibragimov.

"I thought Klitschko was a lot faster tonight than in his last few fights," said Ibragimov, 32, whose title reign came to an end less than a year after he beat Shannon Briggs to win his title this past summer and followed it up with one defense, in October against Holyfield. "My plan was to work on being more active and come straight forward, but it was tough because this guy held a lot. I did not feel hurt at all, but I felt like Klitschko was winning."

The first six rounds were as tactical and uninteresting as a prize fight can get. As the fighters circled each other and punched each other's gloves, the crowd grew restless and booed. It was hard to blame people.

The booing continued into the seventh, but in the eighth, there finally was a brief burst of action as Klitschko rattled Ibragimov with combination. But the moment was all too brief.

Early in the ninth, Klitschko knocked Ibragimov into the ropes and seemed to have him hurt. Ibragimov was on shaky legs and winging wild shots to no avail.

Klitschko hurt him with a pair of right hands in the 11th, but the round was moments from ending and he couldn't follow up.

However, Klitschko was in complete control and the second belt was just a few minutes away. Unifying belts has been so important to Klitschko that he accepted a pay cut to make the fight with Ibragimov, giving him a 50-50 deal.

"To be the heavyweight champion means a lot," Klitschko said before the fight. "The title is very special and is different than other titles in sport. The heavyweight champion can use that title to inspire people outside of the ring all over the world."

He's on his way. [7]