Wladimir Klitschko vs. Alex Leapai

Challenger rankings

Org.	Pos.	As of	Published
1+ Mth. Old
WBA	10	07.12.2013	07-16.12.2013
WBC	22	01.12.2013	30.11-09.12.2013
IBF	NR	31.10.2013	by 03.12.2013
WBO	8	17.11.2013	25.10-13.12.2013
Ring	NR	20.10.2013	19.10-03.12.2013
2+ Mth. Old
WBA	NR	05.11.2013	02-23.11.2013
WBC	NR	01.09.2013	11-22.09.2013
IBF	NR	31.10.2013	by 03.12.2013
WBO	8	17.10.2013	12-24.10.2013
Ring	NR	20.10.2013	19.10-03.12.2013
3+ Mth. Old
WBA	NR	21.10.2013	12-24.10.2013
WBC	NR	01.09.2013	11-22.09.2013
IBF	NR	30.09.2013	by 31.10.2013
WBO	8	17.10.2013	12-24.10.2013
Ring	NR	30.09.2013	by 15.10.2013

CompuBox Punchstats

Total Punches	Klitschko	Leapai
Landed	147	10
Thrown	396	69
Pct.	37%	14%
Jabs	Klitschko	Leapai
Landed	67	6
Thrown	224	31
Pct.	30%	19%
Power Punches	Klitschko	Leapai
Landed	80	4
Thrown	172	38
Pct.	47%	11%

Wladimir Klitschko 247 lbs beat Alex Leapai 248 lbs by TKO at 2:05 in round 5 of 12

• Date: 2014-04-26
• Location: Koenig Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
• Referee: Eddie Cotton
• Judge: Glenn Feldman 40-35

  1 10 8	2 10 9	3 10 9	4 10 9

• Judge: Deon Dwarte 40-35

  1 10 8	2 10 9	3 10 9	4 10 9

• Judge: Zoltan Enyedi 40-35

  1 10 8	2 10 9	3 10 9	4 10 9

• World Boxing Association Super World Heavyweight Title (6th defense by Klitschko)
• World Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (12th defense by Klitschko)
• International Boxing Federation Heavyweight Title (16th defense by Klitschko)
• International Boxing Organization Heavyweight Title (16th defense by Klitschko)
• The Ring Magazine Heavyweight Title (9th defense by Klitschko)
• Fight Poster

Notes

• Before the bout, Klitschko stated in an interview with German newspaper Die Welt that he wanted to remain champion for another ten years. [1]
• In his previous fight on November 23, Leapai pulled an upset, decking and outpointing Denis Boytsov, who was 33-0 and ranked No. 1 by the WBO since at least September 21, 2013.
• After defeating Boytsov, Leapai went from being ranked No. 8 to No. 1 by the WBO.
• Klitschko signed the deal February 3; Leapai signed it on February 4.[2][3][4][5][6]
• Leapai was the first Australian boxer to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship since Bill Squires, who unsuccessfully challenged Tommy Burns once in 1907 and twice in 1908.
• Leading up to the bout, former WBO Heavyweight Champion Shannon Briggs drew more media attention than Leapai. Briggs disturbed a Klitschko training session, a press conference and the official weigh-in. Each time, Briggs pulled off his shirt and demanded a title shot. Klitschko and his manager, Bernd Bönte, showed no interest in a fight with Briggs, who returned to the ring on April 11 after three and one-half years of inactivity.
• The fight was televised in 150 countries.[7][8]
• In Australia, the fight was aired on a PPV platform Main Event for A$49.95, or cca $46.17.[9][10][11]
• In New Zealand, the fight was aired on a PPV platform Sky Arena for NZ$49.95, or cca $42.82.[12][13][14][15]
• Ticket prices were in range €55-€640 ($76-$885).[16][17]
• Leapai was knocked down once in the first round and twice in the fifth round.
• The bout averaged 8.21 million viewers (39.5 market share) in Germany, peaking at 8.64 million (43.1 share).[18]
• 12,000 people were in attendance.[19]
• The Associated Press reported: "Klitschko, taller with a longer reach, controlled the fight at will, scoring with left jabs and straight rights with hardly any opposition from the Samoan-born Australian." [20]

Wladimir Klitschko Makes 16th Title Defense

by Dan Rafael, ESPN, April 26, 2014

The untouchable Wladimir Klitschko retained the heavyweight championship of the world and barely broke a sweat doing it.

Just a few days after reaching the eight-year mark as holder of a heavyweight title -- second all time in division history behind only Joe Louis' 11 years, 8 months and 8 days as champion -- Klitschko annihilated truck driver and mandatory challenger Alex Leapai.

Klitschko scored three knockdowns overall and stopped him in the fifth round of a one-sided destruction on Saturday at the König-Pilsener-Arena in Oberhausen, Germany.

How one-sided was it? To the CompuBox numbers we shall go.

Klitschko connected on 147 of 396 punches (37 percent), including 80 of 172 on power punches (47 percent), while Leapai's pathetic offense consisted of landing 10 -- yes, 10 -- out of 69 total punches (14 percent). Of those 10 punches that supposedly landed, nothing was even remotely damaging.

Klitschko landed nearly as many jabs (67) as Leapai threw total punches (69). And Klitschko closed the show brilliantly, landing 31 of 49 punches in the fifth round, while Leapai landed none of the 10 shots he threw.

"I feel very good at 38," said Klitschko, who is not even remotely thinking about retirement. He is enjoying himself way too much.

As he told ESPN.com a few days before the fight, "It's not hard to find motivation because I am enjoying what I'm doing. I'm crying like a baby because my training camp is coming to an end. It's exciting times to be in the sport. I love to get ready. It's exciting and enjoyable to be a true professional."

The win goes down as Klitschko's 16th successful defense of his second title reign, third-most in heavyweight history behind only Louis (25) and Larry Holmes (20). It also ran Klitschko's mark to 23-2 overall in heavyweight championship fights as he continued his historical reign.

Granted, Australia's Leapai was not an elite contender, but he was a mandatory challenger, meaning Klitschko had no choice but to fight him or be stripped of one of his belts.

Anyone who is unhappy with the level of opposition Klitschko faced, don't blame him. Blame the WBO, which put wrongly Leapai in the mandatory position after he upset previous mandatory challenger Denis Boytsov in November when Boytsov took a supposed tune-up and got whipped.

Those who take issue with Klitschko's opponents forget that he has faced basically all the top opponents of his time other than now-retired older brother Vitali Klitschko, for obvious reasons.

He has faced all comers and not had any issues with them either. Sure, there were some soft touches, like every titleholder faces, such as Leapai (remember, a mandatory), Jean-Marc Mormeck, Francesco Pianeta and Ray Austin (also a mandatory).

But some thought the undefeated Alexander Povetkin would give him problems. Klitschko dropped him four times and shut him out.

David Haye, who trash-talked Klitschko for years, was supposed to be a big threat, but he got rolled in a one-sided unification fight.

Legit contender Tony Thompson got knocked out twice in mandatory defenses.

Then-undefeated Ruslan Chagaev, stripped of his alphabet belt for taking the fight with Klitschko, got smashed.

Then-unbeaten titleholder Sultan Ibragimov was dominated in a virtual shutout loss.

There is no Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson or George Foreman for Klitschko to face. That's not his fault. All he does is win against the opponents available to him, and he doesn't just eke out victories -- he wipes his opponents out.

The 34-year-old Leapai, who gave up 6 inches to the 6-foot-6 Klitschko, was just the latest to get his rear end kicked and probably won't be the last.

Klitschko (62-3, 53 KOs) dropped him in the opening round with a hard jab, a round in which Klitschko outlanded Leapai 23-3. Leapai was not badly hurt on the knockdown, but it was just a matter of time.

Klitschko mixed up his punches and landed all kinds of right hands, jabs, a few left hooks and even went downstairs to the body a few times. Leapai had no answer for anything.

Klitschko kept him exactly where he wanted him, repeatedly landed 1-2 combinations and broke Leapai (30-5-3, 24 KOs) down.

"They said he was very tough, that he dreamed of the title," Klitschko said of Leapai. "I wish him everything good in his life. He gave everything."

Every round was one-sided, especially the fifth, when Klitschko buckled him with a right hand and dropped him and then dropped him again moments later with more heavy blows, prompting referee Eddie Cotton to wave it off at 2 minutes, 5 seconds as the pro-Klitschko crowd cheered wildly. They don't mind Klitschko's dominant wins one iota. They revel in them.

If there were any concerns whatsoever about Klitschko's readiness for the fight, it was the fact that he is from Ukraine and his homeland has been on his mind, given all of the strife and uncertainty there. Distractions abounded.

His mother, Nadezhda, lives there, as do many of his friends. And brother Vitali is smack in the middle of the chaos as one of the opposition-party leaders, but he made it to the fight to work in his brother's corner, as always. But a just a few days before the fight Wladimir was unsure if his brother would be there.

"It wasn't easy with everything that's going on at home," Wladimir Klitschko said. "I hope there's going to be a political compromise. Ukraine is going to stay as it is, and it is not going to fall apart. All of the people who stood up for the rights of Ukraine deserve our praise and our thoughts."

Klitschko said he tried to push thoughts of Ukraine out of his mind as the fight approached, something not so easy to do.

"It's dangerous. People are getting killed and shot," he said. "I am worried about my brother and countrymen and everyone. It's my country. You cannot imagine how many feelings there have been for me about what has gone on these past months."

But, like the true champion he is, Klitschko put that out of his mind, at least for the five rounds that he shared the ring with Leapai, yet another opponent with championship dreams shattered at the end of Klitschko's powerful fists.[21]