Novak Djokovic: “The feeling of winning a match or winning a tournament. The feeling of winning a tennis match is irreplaceable.”

Roger Federer: “I guess, you know, it’s myself to blame if I win or lose, which I kind of like. And that it’s one on one, or if you like, in doubles two on two. But there’s a distance, so there’s always a lot of fair play. There’s no ugly plays in that way. Good sport to watch on TV. Good sport to watch live. It’s athletic and has a bit of everything. I think it’s really nice.”

Justin Gimelstob: “I think tennis is the greatest sport in the world. Because, first of all, it’s based on merit on the court. It’s a combination of physical, mental, technical and tactical skills. It’s one on one. It’s international. And it’s just a great feeling hitting that ball cleanly and purely.”

Xavier Malisse: “It’s a nice game to come out here and play. It’s a different sport, it’s one on one, it’s physical, it’s mental. It’s just a great feeling to be out there on the court and just grind it out.”

Bethanie Mattek-Sands: “It’s something I like because I’m good at it. I don’t like to do things that I’m not good at. Like, I would be the person, I would literally go practice before I do something. Just like kinda be good at it – I’m not a big, First time if I suck, oh well. Like, I hate to be bad at stuff. So the fact that I’m good at it. And it’s something – there’s always a next tournament. The individuality of it is great. I played team sports when I was younger. I did okay [laughs]. Got a little mad at my teammates if they weren’t up to standards. So I think tennis suited me well. But I like playing in crowded stadiums. I think that’s the coolest part. To see the crowd get into it. Everybody having a good time. Playing a great match. Me and my opponent playing high level tennis. And it’s just a great match. I think that’s the best feeling you can get. It’s just competition.”

Jelena Jankovic: “I love playing tennis. I love competing. Being in front of crowds and winning matches. And I love the fact when you work hard and then you go and sometimes when you win tournaments, you lift the trophy, the hard work has paid off. And many things as well. I get to travel the world, I get to meet different people, see different cultures. So all of this, it’s kind of, you get all of this when you are a professional tennis player.”

Samantha Stosur: “I just always have. I think it’s a great life and I’m able to do something that I love to do. So whether it’s competing out on the court or seeing different places around the world or meeting new people, I think whoever can do this is very fortunate.”

Rafael Nadal: “I love the competition. Yeah. I love the support in general, all the sports. Tennis is my sport. So I like the tennis and especially I love the competition.”

Jiim Courier: “I get to chase a yellow ball around the court. It’s a game. I’ve always loved playing games as a kid. Anything with a ball, I was very happy to be doing. And tennis turned out to be my calling. And the best part of it is it’s a sport that I can now play at 40 years of age and play for fun and competitively. And also, if I live long enough, to sort of be 75 and 80 and still be able to go out and play with my friends, and have fun doing it. So I think the opportunity to be able to play something that you loved for your entire life is something that I love about tennis the most.”

Aravane Rezai: “I think my destiny was to play tennis before I was born. Because my brother before me was playing tennis and my dad decided to bring me on the court. Why I love tennis is because I love to compete and that’s why I like tennis.”

Vijay Armritraj: “Tennis is something that I enjoyed immensely. I had great passion for it. It was a form of entertainment that I could never substitute. It gave me more in my life that I could have possibly imagined. Whatever education I could have possibly had. And if I had to change anything over my career, I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Thomas Johansson: “It’s an individual sport if you win. You have yourself to give credit and if you lose, you have yourself to blame. But I love the fact, between two players, it’s almost like boxing, you’re alone out there. But it’s still a nice sport and a fair game, that’s why I like it.”

Adrian Mannarino: “I think it’s a really interesting sport. We move a lot on the court, we need to have good tactic, technique. I think that maybe the main reason that I love the sport is because I’m good at it [laughs]. I like to win. I’m a good competitor. Yep. Maybe that. The love of the win [smiles].”

Jonas Bjorkman: “I don’t play much now. I stopped, more or less, competitively. It’s been two years now. I just started to hit on my own and practice. I mean, I play sponsor tennis. But that’s about it, more or less. I haven’t had time to play any for my own interest. And I didn’t really have any intent to play as well. Once I was finished, it was such a nice feeling not to practice, not to go to the gym, to run. I loved it because it was something that I started very young. And it’s all about winning. I think the passion of being out there and trying to win matches. The atmosphere around the court, for me, obviously, it’s you have to go in and do your job and try to win on court 18. But your goal was always to try to be on the show courts. And play in front of the big crowds. That was the passion and the love for the game – to go out there and try to perform in front of the big crowds. It was so much fun to be out there and try to win those matches. For me it was mostly try to find the way to win the matches. I mean, sometimes you go out and play with one game. If that didn’t work, you have to find a way to win and that could be plan B or plan C. If that worked, it was great. If it didn’t, at least you tried your hardest and tried to find ways to win. So, for sure, the excitement on the big court was something you felt was great.”

Bud Collins: “As a kid, I loved hearing the balls hit the racquet. The tennis courts by my home – that would be my wake-up call. And then finally I got to play. It was just a nice feeling to be out there running, to be hitting the ball. To be getting better. And being able to play almost anywhere I went.”

Mats Wilander: “It changes every day. (Many reasons?) No, it’s only one reason every time. They’re different every time. Sometimes it’s competing. Sometimes it’s hitting balls. Sometimes it’s the nervousness that it brings. Very rarely is it all three at the same time. Except when you are 22-years-old and you’re on the cusp of breaking through and being one of the best players in the world. And all three are at the same time.”

Guillermo Canas: “I think it’s a great sport. I love to play tennis. It’s my passion. I don’t play anymore and I still love this sport. I think it’s great. It’s incredible. You take the position. You’re alone. You’re there competing with someone else. It’s a great sport, I love it.”

Francesca Schiavone: “It was thinking, that space is just mine. I can decide, I can do everything that I want. Because when I play, I feel comfortable. I can enjoy and inspire myself on the court.”

Kim Clijsters: “I love the variety of tennis. I think that’s something I’ve always enjoyed. It’s never the same. That’s something I sayt to my coach and trainer – always have variety. What I’ve learned over the years – I need to have it mixed up. And I like the challenge of a lot of different players. And always trying to improve and physically trying to become better and stronger. In a world where people always try to compare everybody to everybody, but I feell like I’ve always been really good at not doing that. And just focusing on myself. And not comparing to anybody else. And do try to be the best Kim out there. And not worry about other things.”

Peng Shuai: “Well, when I was young I didn’t love it. Now I think I love it more than before. I think it brings me a lot of happiness but also a lot of tough times and sad. They are kind of together. I feel in the court, to play the match, a lot of time you are thinking how to play the opponent. I just love this game. Even if I lose, I really want to enjoy this short tennis career..

Murphy Jensen: “Why do I love playing tennis? It’s what I’ve always done. That’s one reason. I’ve been playing since I was basically spoonfed tennis. But I like it because it’s given me a life beyond my wildest dreams. It’s kind of a loaded question. Because I could answer it 20 different ways. And then, on the court, physically, it’s wonderful. I stay in shape. It’s an art and a tap dance. Play with the ball. It’s really a beautiful sport. And it’s the only thing I have found where I must – if I can – stay in the moment. You have to be in the moment. Coaches can say you have to think three shots ahead. Baloney. Because if you don’t get the serve in the box, there’s no next shot. Just bouncing the ball that moment, just every shudder of time or whatever, that moment is everything. I love that about tennis. I’m doing deep on you. That’s what I’ve been into lately. I woke up the other day, I was hitting balls and playing the match. And I had to be in that moment. I didn’t really know that till I stepped away from the game for a while Started playing a lot again. And it was blowing my mind. This is really cool. A war could be going on. But on that tennis court, I feel safe and protected. That’s a pretty cool place to be.”

Luke Jensen: “To be honest, whether it’s a park, whether it’s a final of a slam or anything, I just like winning. I like going out there and someone’s gonna win, someone’s gonna lose. It doesn’t matter what you’re ranked, doesn’t matter what your age is, spin the racquet and it starts up, zero-zero. And someone’s gonna serve and someone’s gonna return. At the end of the entire contest, if you’ve put in the entire effort and you’ve put in the right tactics and you executed it, you’ve got a shot to win. And, to me, it’s about putting it on the line. And no one can pull you off the court, there’s no politics, it’s raw, it’s out there, it’s real. And it’s the best thing of all time. Once you leave that arena, it’s political, it’s who’s popular, it’s who you know. It’s not so clear. And this game is extremely clear. You’re winning or you’re losing.”

“He’s an all around athlete. A great athlete, a better athlete than what I had anticipated when I got in there with him,” said Ray Austin, who was defeated in two rounds by ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ in March 2007. “He’s got everything a heavyweight is supposed to have – he’s strong, he’s got mobility, movement, good jab. But the key thing was for me to go in there and take it to him and make him fight and don’t let him box and get in his comfort zone. That was the plan – to break his rhythm.” Austin says it wasn’t his night. “Basically, in that situation, my mind wasn’t even there. Wasn’t nothing coming together for me that night,” says Austin.”Nothing. And it ain’t no certain excuse. It happens like that sometimes. Some nights is your’s, some nights it’s not. That was the wrong night for me not to click in [laughs].” Klitschko surprised Austin with his athleticism. “He was kind of fast on his feet. His mobile movement from the right to the left was better than I anticipated,” Austin admitted. “Cause when I first went in there, I cut the left off immediately and he darted back the other way. And he did it so swiftly and fast. Like, this is what he do, he didn’t have no problem. When a guy is used to going a certain way – like you got a guy who you push and he’s not used to going backwards, he’s kind of clumsy when you push him back. You go, Uh oh, I kinda found something. But when I cut the left off, he did it like that’s how he was practicing. He just moved with no problems, like this is what I do. I said, Oh okay, this guy isn’t gonna stand still. He came to fight [laughs]. Because I watched the Sam Peter fight and Sam seemed like he caught up with him a little more. Even though he boxed Sam pretty good, Sam was able to catch up with him and land a couple of punches. And that’s what I was looking to do.”

With three straight comeback wins under his belt, the WBA #7 ranked Austin still hopes to challenge for a world title and when asked if he’d like a rematch, Austin responded,”If he’ll rematch me, I’ll definitely appreciate that. If not, I’ll target his brother. I see a lot of things with his brother I know I can expose. I’m not gonna say what it is – if I get the fight then he work on that. I saw him fight Peter. He has a fight coming up, I’m gonna check to see if he’s still doing the same things. Right now, the heavyweight I want to fight is him – Vitali.” When asked if he thought Wladimir, in his current form, was an “all-time great,” Austin agreed, “Yeah, I think he’s one of the greatest so far. He hasn’t really truly been tested, he’s been in a couple of wars, he won a few, lost a few but he still got to prove himself. Long time to come to prove himself. But so far, out here right now, he’s probably one of the best.”

Phil Jackson was stopped in the second round against a 23-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 1999 and later sparred with him. “The experience that I got from Wladimir – he’s a tough cookie. He had those losses, I don’t know what happened to him. To me, Wladimir – he’s a good fighter. Something went wrong, somewhere down the line. To me, I knew he could still be the champ because he has that power. He has that power.” That’s not the only asset Klitschko owns, says Jackson, who sparred with both brothers in Atlantic City before Wladimir boxed Ray Mercer in 2002. “He has an excellent jab. He’s not a mover like his brother – his brother moves extremely well. He wears you down with that power, man.” Jackson, who lost a world title bid to Lennox Lewis by KO 8 in 2004, says Klitschko hit harder than Lewis. “Klitschko had more power, most definitely. In both hands. You could feel it. Put it this way – if it would have been Wladimir in there when his brother fought Lennox Lewis, I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis. I honestly do. I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis.” Jackson sees a difference in Klitschko’s style now compared to 1999. “Back then, he just don’t give a damn. He just came forward. He just throw ‘em at you. Now he boxes more, he boxes smarter now and waits for the right time to use the power.”

Chris Byrd clashed twice with Klitschko in 2000 and 2006 and struggled mightily. “Wladimir beat me the first time, I just didn’t feel right. The second fight, I can be very honest – I was never in the fight. He fought a great fight. He made some changes to his style. He got my respect for beating Sam Peter. I got hit with all kinds of punches. It wasn’t the fight we trained for in sparring. Everything felt great going in but when you get out there and start getting hit and certain things don’t work for you…I thank the Lord I had the chance to have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko. He’s such a big, strong, good boxer. I take nothing away from him.” Employing an ill-conceived strategy in the rematch let Byrd down. “It was knuckle-headed of me to think I was bigger and stronger than him,” said Byrd. “He’s 241 pounds of muscle and I was 212 pounds of bulked up muscle, not even for real muscle. So I felt I had to go in there and push him around. And it didn’t work out. It was a horrid showing, getting hit with all kinds of punches. I was pretty sharp in sparring, I was pretty aggressive, but Wladimir Klitschko is a big, strong guy, he’s talented. He knows how to box.”

When asked what type of style could offset and possibly defeat Klitschko, Byrd replied, “I would say be a big, strong guy and press him forward. But you gotta move the head. I didn’t move my head. You gotta give him angles because he’s so tall and shooting down and he’s taking that half-step back and he’s getting his punches off. It’s hard to fight him.”

Lamon Brewster also boxed Klitschko twice, in 2004 and 2007. Brewster famously won the first battle but came up short in the rematch. An improved left jab was the vital difference, according to Brewster. “He was able to maintain the jab, whereas the last time I knew his jab would be busy but I was able to get past it. In the second fight his jab was better, he had an awesome jab and I tried to get past it but I couldn’t. So then he was accumulating punches. I knew, at some point, I couldn’t keep getting hit like that.” “I felt I was the same, relentless Lamon Brewster in both fights but sometimes, somebody has the better night. Unlike crying wolf or saying poison, you just admit when someone’s better than you that night. He was better that night. And I might be better the next night.”

Perhaps the man who did the best to compete with the current edition of Klitschko was Sultan Ibragimov in February 2008. Though it was a dull and uneven contest, Ibragimov achieved a moral victory of sorts, by avoiding a hellacious beating. The left-handed Russian forced Klitschko to box more cautiously than usual. “I should have been more aggressive,” says Ibragimov. “When I tried to go forward, he’d go back. If I did get inside, he’d hold me. I couldn’t fight him. It wasn’t that I took his punches, or his speed or power. It was his height and it was a very hard technical fight. Nobody could do anything. I felt bad that I didn’t train differently. I should have had more of an attack strategy than defense.” Mario Costa was in Ibragimov’s corner and noticed Klitschko is a more defense-oriented fighter than he once was. “I think he fights almost scared. He’s a defensive fighter. He doesn’t want you to check his chin. It’s hard to fight a guy like that. He’d try to punch Sultan from waaay outside. Then back up. Always throwing something and be so safe. It’s very hard to fight a guy like that. He fights safe. Many times he’ll throw a jab and go half-step back, not move forward.”

After the fight Costa, spoke about it with his friend Mike Tyson. “Mike said tall guys are hard to get in on most of the time,” said Costa. “He said he always had a hard time with taller guys, to get in it’s always hard.”

If Foreman, Frazier and Norton were around today, they might find themselves similarly troubled to figure out how to beat 33-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, who with nine wins in a row in world title fights, is proving himself to be a dominant force – with his prime years ahead. “From my point of view, I can say I feel like a fish in the water,” the IBF/WBO/IBO champs says. “I feel very confident. I feel that I can be very consistent in my performance. And, especially, I love what I do. When I go in the ring I’m happy about it. I’m not struggling, I’m not surviving, I don’t need to do it. I do it because I love it and I want it.”

(Wladimir sketch card by Stephen Burkett www.stephenburkett.squarespace.com)

This article was originally posted at www.BoxingInsider.com in 2009 and 2010.

Ht: 5-8  Wt: 127

DOB: January 25, 1987  In: Moscow, Russia

First Tennis Memory:  “When I came to the club when I was seven-years-old and I came to one of the bigger clubs in Moscow – Dynamo. It was my first time. My father, he brought me there. We were expecting the coach would group me, like, if she likes me, she will take me – or I go home. And then when I came there I didn’t play tennis at all. I mean, I could hit some balls but it was a little bit strange technique. And coaches gave me some exercises to run, and this kind of stuff. And she said, Okay, I’m gonna take her. And everybody was surprised. And also, all the girls who were in the club, who were my age, already played for one year and everybody was laughing about me. Like, Why did you come here? Because you can’t play tennis. I was like, We will see later [laughs].”

Hobbies/Leisure Activities:  “Well, when I’m back at Moscow, I like to go to theater and be with friends. Also, maybe playing some golf as well. Reading, music and just to do some different stuff, like snowboarding, for example. I like to do something different.”

Nickname:  “Makiri.”

Tennis Inspirations:  “I like to play tennis since I was small and nobody push me. And I like to win the match because the feeling, especially when you beat the top players and when you win the tournament. It’s a feeling you couldn’t compare with others [smiles]. It’s great. I want to practice more and more and to be a better and better player.”

Favorite Movie:  “I like Butterfly Effect.”

Last Book Read:  “Twilight, the four books. I’m on the fourth one.”

Musical Tastes:  “Difficult to say. Like, I don’t like the one singer, I like many different songs. And last time I’m listening to Scorpions, I like those songs.”

Current Car:  “I don’t drive. I have a license but I’m not driving yet [smiles]. Dangerous in Moscow to drive [laughs]. Because of traffic, crazy drivers.”

Favorite Meal:  “Russian food.”

Favorite Ice Cream Flavor:  “Vanilla with walnuts.”

Pre-Match Feeling:  “Different things. Sometimes you’re completely not nervous. You have nerves sometimes. But I prefer to have some nerves, because you concentrate more on the game and you’re there from the first point.”

Greatest Sports Moment:  “Yeah I won China Open, first WTA title (d. Groenfeld 63 64 in 2005). And also the junior U.S. Open (2002) when I was under 18, when I was 15 years.”

Most Painful Moment:  “Yeah, losing in the first match in the Grand Slams. It’s always sad when you lose in the first round.”

Closest Tennis Friends:  “Maybe now it’s Sorana Cirstea and Marta Domochowska.”

Funniest Players Encountered:  “Women – nobody funny [laughs].”

Toughest Competitors:  “I don’t like to play with lefties.”

Funny Tennis Memory:  “Maybe in the moment when you’re going for a dropshot, you make it and then you go in the net [laughs]. And you’re losing the point. (When did it happen?) A few times in my career, I couldn’t stop before the net. I’m like, hanging.”

Favorite Players To Watch:  “Everybody [laughs].”

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve.

The IBF/WBO/Ring Heavyweight champion of the world also won Olympic gold in 1996.

In this day and age there aren’t any heavyweight contenders with the marquee name recognition like “Foreman”, “Frazier” and “Norton” for Wladimir Klitschko to defeat and acquire the deserved accolades. So boxing has to suffice with the best of today, like Ibragimov, Byrd, Brewster, and Austin, etc. to measure how good Klitschko really is.

“He’s an all around athlete. A great athlete, a better athlete than what I had anticipated when I got in there with him,” said Ray Austin, who was defeated in two rounds by ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ in March 2007. “He’s got everything a heavyweight is supposed to have – he’s strong, he’s got mobility, movement, good jab. But the key thing was for me to go in there and take it to him and make him fight and don’t let him box and get in his comfort zone. That was the plan – to break his rhythm.” Austin says it wasn’t his night. “Basically, in that situation, my mind wasn’t even there. Wasn’t nothing coming together for me that night,” says Austin.”Nothing. And it ain’t no certain excuse. It happens like that sometimes. Some nights is your’s, some nights it’s not. That was the wrong night for me not to click in [laughs].” Klitschko surprised Austin with his athleticism. “He was kind of fast on his feet. His mobile movement from the right to the left was better than I anticipated,” Austin admitted. “Cause when I first went in there, I cut the left off immediately and he darted back the other way. And he did it so swiftly and fast. Like, this is what he do, he didn’t have no problem. When a guy is used to going a certain way – like you got a guy who you push and he’s not used to going backwards, he’s kind of clumsy when you push him back. You go, Uh oh, I kinda found something. But when I cut the left off, he did it like that’s how he was practicing. He just moved with no problems, like this is what I do. I said, Oh okay, this guy isn’t gonna stand still. He came to fight [laughs]. Because I watched the Sam Peter fight and Sam seemed like he caught up with him a little more. Even though he boxed Sam pretty good, Sam was able to catch up with him and land a couple of punches. And that’s what I was looking to do.”

With three straight comeback wins under his belt, the WBA #7 ranked Austin still hopes to challenge for a world title and when asked if he’d like a rematch, Austin responded,”If he’ll rematch me, I’ll definitely appreciate that. If not, I’ll target his brother. I see a lot of things with his brother I know I can expose. I’m not gonna say what it is – if I get the fight then he work on that. I saw him fight Peter. He has a fight coming up, I’m gonna check to see if he’s still doing the same things. Right now, the heavyweight I want to fight is him – Vitali.” When asked if he thought Wladimir, in his current form, was an “all-time great,” Austin agreed, “Yeah, I think he’s one of the greatest so far. He hasn’t really truly been tested, he’s been in a couple of wars, he won a few, lost a few but he still got to prove himself. Long time to come to prove himself. But so far, out here right now, he’s probably one of the best.”

Phil Jackson was stopped in the second round against a 23-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 1999 and later sparred with him. “The experience that I got from Wladimir – he’s a tough cookie. He had those losses, I don’t know what happened to him. To me, Wladimir – he’s a good fighter. Something went wrong, somewhere down the line. To me, I knew he could still be the champ because he has that power. He has that power.” That’s not the only asset Klitschko owns, says Jackson, who sparred with both brothers in Atlantic City before Wladimir boxed Ray Mercer in 2002. “He has an excellent jab. He’s not a mover like his brother – his brother moves extremely well. He wears you down with that power, man.” Jackson, who lost a world title bid to Lennox Lewis by KO 8 in 2004, says Klitschko hit harder than Lewis. “Klitschko had more power, most definitely. In both hands. You could feel it. Put it this way – if it would have been Wladimir in there when his brother fought Lennox Lewis, I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis. I honestly do. I think he would have dropped Lennox Lewis.” Jackson sees a difference in Klitschko’s style now compared to 1999. “Back then, he just don’t give a damn. He just came forward. He just throw ‘em at you. Now he boxes more, he boxes smarter now and waits for the right time to use the power.”

Chris Byrd clashed twice with Klitschko in 2000 and 2006 and struggled mightily. “Wladimir beat me the first time, I just didn’t feel right. The second fight, I can be very honest – I was never in the fight. He fought a great fight. He made some changes to his style. He got my respect for beating Sam Peter. I got hit with all kinds of punches. It wasn’t the fight we trained for in sparring. Everything felt great going in but when you get out there and start getting hit and certain things don’t work for you…I thank the Lord I had the chance to have a rematch with Wladimir Klitschko. He’s such a big, strong, good boxer. I take nothing away from him.” Employing an ill-conceived strategy in the rematch let Byrd down. “It was knuckle-headed of me to think I was bigger and stronger than him,” said Byrd. “He’s 241 pounds of muscle and I was 212 pounds of bulked up muscle, not even for real muscle. So I felt I had to go in there and push him around. And it didn’t work out. It was a horrid showing, getting hit with all kinds of punches. I was pretty sharp in sparring, I was pretty aggressive, but Wladimir Klitschko is a big, strong guy, he’s talented. He knows how to box.”

When asked what type of style could offset and possibly defeat Klitschko, Byrd replied, “I would say be a big, strong guy and press him forward. But you gotta move the head. I didn’t move my head. You gotta give him angles because he’s so tall and shooting down and he’s taking that half-step back and he’s getting his punches off. It’s hard to fight him.”

Lamon Brewster also boxed Klitschko twice, in 2004 and 2007. Brewster famously won the first battle but came up short in the rematch. An improved left jab was the vital difference, according to Brewster. “He was able to maintain the jab, whereas the last time I knew his jab would be busy but I was able to get past it. In the second fight his jab was better, he had an awesome jab and I tried to get past it but I couldn’t. So then he was accumulating punches. I knew, at some point, I couldn’t keep getting hit like that.” “I felt I was the same, relentless Lamon Brewster in both fights but sometimes, somebody has the better night. Unlike crying wolf or saying poison, you just admit when someone’s better than you that night. He was better that night. And I might be better the next night.”

Perhaps the man who did the best to compete with the current edition of Klitschko was Sultan Ibragimov in February 2008. Though it was a dull and uneven contest, Ibragimov achieved a moral victory of sorts, by avoiding a hellacious beating. The left-handed Russian forced Klitschko to box more cautiously than usual. “I should have been more aggressive,” says Ibragimov. “When I tried to go forward, he’d go back. If I did get inside, he’d hold me. I couldn’t fight him. It wasn’t that I took his punches, or his speed or power. It was his height and it was a very hard technical fight. Nobody could do anything. I felt bad that I didn’t train differently. I should have had more of an attack strategy than defense.” Mario Costa was in Ibragimov’s corner and noticed Klitschko is a more defense-oriented fighter than he once was. “I think he fights almost scared. He’s a defensive fighter. He doesn’t want you to check his chin. It’s hard to fight a guy like that. He’d try to punch Sultan from waaay outside. Then back up. Always throwing something and be so safe. It’s very hard to fight a guy like that. He fights safe. Many times he’ll throw a jab and go half-step back, not move forward.”

 After the fight Costa, spoke about it with his friend Mike Tyson. “Mike said tall guys are hard to get in on most of the time,” said Costa. “He said he always had a hard time with taller guys, to get in it’s always hard.”

If Foreman, Frazier and Norton were around today, they might find themselves similarly troubled to figure out how to beat 33-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, who with nine wins in a row in world title fights, is proving himself to be a dominant force – with his prime years ahead. “From my point of view, I can say I feel like a fish in the water,” the IBF/WBO/IBO champs says. “I feel very confident. I feel that I can be very consistent in my performance. And, especially, I love what I do. When I go in the ring I’m happy about it. I’m not struggling, I’m not surviving, I don’t need to do it. I do it because I love it and I want it.”

 Everybody’s favorite judge and HBO’s unofficial scorekeeper Harold Lederman took time out to talk some sweet science. Read on to learn Harold’s thoughts on this weekend, why he believes Floyd will do the right thing and fight the winner, why he likes Paul Williams and Tavoris Cloud and much more…

BoxingInsider: We have the big one we all been waiting for this weekend, you have to be excited.

Harold Lederman: “Very much so, I think it’s going to be a sensational fight. Miguel Cotto is a very hard puncher, he’s the bigger guy. Durable, he keeps coming, he always makes exciting fights. He digs to the body. He’s certainly capable of giving Manny Pacquiao trouble.”

BoxingInsider: You’re picking Cotto to win?

Harold Lederman: “No I’m not picking anybody. I gotta keep score, I gotta be nuetral [laughs]. But Manny is really in his prime right now. Bigger guys don’t bother him, we saw what he did to Oscar, David Diaz, Ricky Hatton. He looks sensational. He throws a punch, he just doesn’t miss. Always right on the money. The question is can he stop a real full fledged 147 pound fighter like Miguel Cotto? We don’t know. On the other hand, can he stand up to Cotto’s power? It’s gonna be interesting. If Cotto looks great…if either one of them looks great, it’s gonna set up a heckuva fight with Floyd Mayweather. I’m really excited.”

BoxingInsider: Do you think it will happen? Floyd seems not to be too interested.

Harold Lederman: “I think Floyd is looking for the best money he can get. And I think the best money he can get is with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto. I think it’s a bigger fight than Shane Mosley. I think more people will want to see it. The Mosley fight might be easier to make but I think Floyd will just look at the numbers and say, I’m gonna do the best fight – Cotto or Pacquiao. Personally I think Floyd is praying for Manny Paquiao to win because he loves to fight small guys [laughs]. But it remains to be seen. If the fight turns out to be a dull fight – which I don’t think is gonna happen – then Floyd will probably take Shane Mosley.”

BoxingInsider: But we have heard rumors that Floyd is looking to make a Hatton rematch, or pick Dimitri Salita – if Salita upsets Khan.

Harold Lederman: “I don’t think so. I doubt it. I think he’s looking for the biggest money he can make. I think it’s with the winner of Pacquiao-Cotto.”

BoxingInsider: This will be the biggest night of the year for boxing.

Harold Lederman: “Huge, I think it’s absolutely gonna be huge. Everybody wants to see the fight. It’s exciting, it’s huge in the Latin and Filipino communities. The guy on the street wants to see it.”

BoxingInsider: Yeah people like Shaq, the New York Giants are hyped about it. Like the Larry Holmes era in the 80s, the welterweight division is picking up the slack and taking the sport to a higher level.

Harold Lederman: “There’s more interesting fights at welterweight than there is at heavyweight. The heavyweights are dominated by the Klitschkos, they look terrific. You can’t take it away from them, they just keep on winning. You don’t see any opponents out there who can give them a competitive fight. They both have fights coming up – Vitali with Kevin Johnson and Wladimir with Eddie Chambers.”

BoxingInsider: We know who will win those.

Harold Lederman: “That’s what I’m saying, the Klitschkos are so dominant. Eddie Chambers is really a good fighter, but at his size, can be beat Wladimir Klitschko? He’s not a really big guy.”

BoxingInsider: Solis from Cuba looks like he could be the future of the heavyweight division.

Harold Lederman: “You know what scares me about Odlanier Solis? I saw him beat Monte Barrett and he has power. But when he was an amateur beating Felix Savon, he weighed 201. For Monte Barrett he weighed 271. That’s scary. I don’t know if he can put on all that weight and be efective. I don’t know, I’m a little leery. Wait till we see him in a couple more fights. He may be suffering from that problem Chris Arreola has – in other words, he may be 25-30 pounds overweight. But from what I saw in the Barrett fight, it sure looks like he can punch.”

BoxingInsider: With the “Super Six” on Showtime, Cotto and Pacquiao on Saturday, you’ve been in boxing a long time. Is your enthusiasm for the sport still very high? Or has it declined?

Harold Lederman: “No [laughs]. Not in the least [laughs]. Without question, Mikkel Kessler-Andre Ward is gonna be a great fight, there’s no doubt about that. And our show is going to be fabulous. I’m really excited about several fights coming up. I’m really looking forward to seeing Paul Williams against Sergio Martinez in Atlantic City.I’m looking forward to Paulie Malignaggi-Juan Diaz again December 12 in Chicago. I’m looking forward to Librado Andrade-Bute in Quebec City.”

BoxingInsider: How good is Paul Williams?

Harold Lederman: “Dynamite. When do you see a southpaw knock people out with right hooks? I mean, he doubles and triples the left hook. Which is unheard of for a southpaw. I think he’s a terrific fighter, he really is. Not only does he have a helluva straight left hand, good size, good power, but what he can do with a right hand is amazing for a southpaw.”

BoxingInsider: And where is the boxing talent in America? The amateur system is not producing the future stars like we have come to expect, especially in the heavyweight division. What is going on?

Harold Lederman: “We will. It’s a lull in the action. They’ll be back. I guarantee they’ll be back. There’s Deontay Wilder, Demetrius Andrade from the last Olympics. Guys like that. It’s just a matter of time. Now there isn’t a lot of young Americans coming up but I’m impressed by Tavoris Cloud. He seems to be a great name that we didn’t know about. The new IBF Light Heavyweight champion of the world. He impresses me with his punching power. I’m sure, before long, we’re going to see a whole lot of new faces.”