Boxing: Williams ready for Dr Ironfist

LAS VEGAS - Vegas is America's Theatre of Dreams, and right now Danny Williams dreams of hitting the jackpot in boxing's heartland.

The problem is, he first has to hit Vitali Klitschko perhaps even harder than he hit Mike Tyson almost six months ago.

It is in Vegas that Williams believes the World Boxing Council heavyweight champion will go down in the first defence of his title at the weekend.

If that happens, Williams will fulfil his father's 25-year-old dream as well as his own.

It is a tall order in every sense, because the dice are quite heavily stacked in favour of a champion who currently packs the biggest wallop in boxing.

I confess to being something of a Klitschko fan. A 33-year-old, 2m gigantic chip off the old Soviet bloc he may be, and a little robotic perhaps, but he is certainly no Ivan Drago clone.

A credible hulk who can box, he takes a fair punch and delivers one pretty effectively. A series of summarily flattened foes, among then Britons Julius Francis and Herbie Hide, have the sore jaws to prove it.

He is also much more. He uses his brain out of the ring as well as in it; he is a multi-linguist, PhD, ambassador for Unesco and someone who thinks deeply enough to have seriously considered calling off this fight to become a political freedom fighter in his native Ukraine.

Williams, two years younger but 15cm shorter, has to find a way of toppling Dr Ironfist. It will not be easy.

Klitschko was outscoring Lewis before he was savagely cut about the eyes, yet he was far less impressive when subsequently winning the WBC title against a podgy Corrie Sanders.

The strong feeling in the Williams camp is that Klitschko is taking the Briton far too lightly. If that is so, it would be a huge mistake.

Williams' victory over Tyson seemed to clear his head of the misgivings and lack of self-belief that had bedevilled his career. As a boxer, he has been born again, a daydream believer who is now unafraid to put his faith in his fists.

His trainer, Jim McDonnell, has worked out a contrasting strategy to the one that broke up Tyson. "Klitschko is fairly predictable," he said. "He doesn't actually do a lot, but what he does is very effective. He sits on his back leg like all the Eastern European fighters and, unlike Tyson, punches in singles rather than clusters.

"Danny mustn't let him pick him off. He's got to get in there, stay there, force the pace and work, work, work."

Williams said he was ready for an endurance test that would sap Klitschko's suspect stamina.

"I have to get inside his long reach and break his body up," says the Londoner. "I expect expect Klitschko to hit me and hurt me, but I doubt he can hit me harder or hurt me more than Tyson did."

 

Williams said he would be around the same 118kg he was against Tyson. Frankly, he needs to be lighter, for his legs may prove as important as his fists.

"This fight is more about Danny than it is about Klitschko," said his manager, Frank Warren.

"It is all down to him. Danny has always needed a challenge to get the adrenalin flowing, and here he is in Vegas fighting a champion.

"If that can't get him going, nothing will."

- INDEPENDENT