Mission Possible - Williams to topple VK? by Ronnie McCluskey Oct 18th 2004

This time last year, the idea of pitching British heavyweight Danny Williams against Vitali Klitschko would have been ludicrous. Its a no-brainer right? If a Turkish plodder (Sinan Samil Sam) could walk through Williams, and batter him to the canvas on three occasions, Klitschko will carve him up surely... Yet a year on, this fight has been made, for the WBC championship. All bets are off. One fight was all it took for Danny to whitewash his bad memories, and set up the fight of his dreams. One fight against a washed-up former champion, and Williams stood on top of the boxing world. Yet has this fight been made based on skewed motives? Let's get real here, Mike Tyson was not the number one contender, was he? So why should beating him advance you into a title fight? Mike was top ten, not top dog in the WBC's rankings. So why Williams-Klitschko? The answer is simple. Mike Tyson is the biggest name in boxing. Its verging on factual, folks. He may be more than a decade on from his prime, but he is still a household name, a foremost A-list celebrity. Beating him propels you into the limelight, and now the man on the street is thinking "That Danny Williams is something special". All because he shattered a myth, which incidently has already been done four times. People tend to forget that. Another reason this fight has been made is availability. James Toney (the number one contender) was nursing an injury, and eyeing a comeback fight with Rydell Booker. Byrd is with Don King, and they've already lined up Jameel McCline. Golota is his usual unpredictable self, but still angling for a rematch with Byrd..and Ruiz is chasing his tail. (Ruiz –Golota is scheduled for November13 – ed.) Danny Williams was a logical choice. He'd just KO'd Mike Tyson, in one of boxing's all-time great upsets. He was looking to prove he wasn't a one-hit wonder, and wants to move a step closer, to justifying his previously unseen talent. And that's where Klitschko comes in...The heir apparent to Lewis' crown, Vitali has been calling out the big man since their epic encounter last year, but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears. He's looking for a worthy contender, and he may have found it, in the shape of Williams. And so to the fight itself. Can Danny do it? It certainly looks to be a mammoth task. Klitschko, in many ways, is the real life version of Creed-killer Ivan Drago. But can Williams be Rocky? It all depends. What Williams will show up? The sloppy, sub-par version that fell victim to Samil Sam, perhaps...Or the lazy, clowner that handed Sprott victory on a plate...Maybe, just maybe, Williams will be spurned on by that Tyson win, and fight out of his skin. If he does, there is certainly a chance of victory. Klitschko, despite his power and strength, has many weaknesses. They can be exposed. One thing's for sure. Klitschko will fight like he always does. The man can't, and won't change. I discovered that when he parted ways with Freddie Roach after the trainer tried to show him how to clinch, when in trouble. The brothers weren't interested. Perhaps someone should have told them that if Wladimir clinched, he could have prevented his two knockout losses to lesser opposition. Klitschko will come out, standing straight up, and looking to land that big right hand. He will not tuck his chin in, he won't tuck his elbows in, as a matter of fact he'll pretty much defy the simplest of boxing rules. Yet, despite this, his awkwardness will be a problem for anybody...ANYBODY. How are you going to effectively counter a man that stands 6 ft 7, and has an 80" reach? He may have defensive problems but it's going to be hard to hit him and not take some leather in return. And you can't afford to go shot-for-shot with a guy dubbed Dr. Ironfist. Despite this, I think Danny can do it. He showed in the Tyson fight that he can take a punch. I don't think the Samil Sam fight can be referenced too much, because Williams was especially lacklustre on that occasion, he even said some of Sam's people were disrupting his sleeping the night before in the hotel room. There's more to that fight than meets the eye, I feel. Williams has also showed heart and grit in the past, whereas I seen Vitali quit when clearly ahead, against Chris Byrd. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he had a shoulder injury, whatever. He was fighting for a world heavyweight title, he could have used one arm and still won. He quit. This was cancelled out of course, with the courageous Lewis performance. Danny must fight to a game plan. He must not stay still for too long, because if he does he'll go the way of Kirk 'Beached Whale' Johnson, who found himself laid out in two against Vitali. He must stick and move. Soften up that body. Big men don't like it to the mid-section, especially Klitschko. Test it out. Try things in there, jab and move, evade, counter. Don't stay on the end of that long reach, because Klitschko will shoot that right hand with bad intentions. I feel that if he does these things, we may have a new WBC heavyweight champion. Who'd have ever thought that Danny Williams would succeed Lennox Lewis, eh? And with a division full mostly of chubby journeymen, Williams could potentially enjoy a nice reign. He just has to get past Klitschko first.

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