...Writers will recount the fight round by round. But it’s not necessary. One round represented every round, give or take some less-than-dramatic knockdowns. Povetkin, to his credit, pushed forward even when exhausted, even when swollen, even when disgruntled by the much bigger man. And Klitschko backed up and landed his pole-axe jab, his trademark punch, forged on an 81-inch reach. But tonight Klitschko did more than legally throw his jab, which sometimes morphed into a hook, which sometimes was followed by a careful right hand. He pulled Povetkin in with his long arms, then leaned on Povetkin’s neck, pressing his weight into the smaller man, and Klitschko did this over and over, one long lean, because referee Luis Pabon allowed the champion to break the rules. A win is a win. And fighters should do anything in their powers to win. But the ugliness of this tactic tainted tonight’s fight. Sometimes Klitschko looks the surgeon with his knife-like precision. Against Povetkin he looked the part of a sloppy doctor, patching things together with frayed bandages.
Luis Pabon should be forced to stand with a 250-pound weight on his neck for thirty-six minutes. Maybe then he’ll understand the importance of actually doing his job. Pabon is notorious for killing the rhythm of fights with incessant breaks. Tonight, as if intimidated by the heavyweight champion, he allowed Wladimir Klitschko to determine the pace of the fight—it was jab, hold, lean from the first to final bell...