The fight between Wladamir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov
on February 23rd, 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New
York is intended to unify a couple of the titles in the
heavyweight division and help the sport move towards a
single champion. It has been eight years since
there has been a fight like this, one to unify the belts
in the heavyweight division and these two champions are
going to get into the ring and slug it out. Lennox
Lewis and Evander Holyfield were the last fighters to
fight in a unification fight, that was back in 1999.
Many fans have been driven away from the sport by the
split in the heavyweight division and pundits are hoping
this will breath some life back into the sport.
Ibragimov is coming off a couple of impressive victories
that brought his record to 22-0-1, the first was an easy
decision over then champion Shannon Briggs back in June.
He wanted to fight the WBA champ Ruslan Chagaev in
Moscow, but an illness forced Chagaev out leaving
Ibragimov to face an over-matched Holyfied.
Klitschko hasn't been scared to fight a fellow champion
and welcomed this chance to eliminate a champion from
the ranks with open arms. He has proven himself to
be a winner at 49-3 with 44 knockouts, and after winning
the IBF title with a TKo over Chris Byrd back in June of
2006, Klitschko has seen dealt with Calvin Brock, Ray
Austin, and Lamon Brewster. He is a lot bigger and
more experienced than Ibragimov and is getting the nod
with odds makers.
Most fight fans consider Klitschko the true champion of
the class, and after the fight there won't be much room
left for speculation. There have been a lot of
great fights lately, but it seems all of them have
featured Floyd Mayweather in the lighter divisions.
This should draw some boxing betting back to the
heavyweight class and get some more interest flowing in
the sport.
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