Twenty-Twenty Hindsight: Cautious Klitschko, Why I <3 Lennox Lewis, Props to HBO and More

Every now and then you watch a fight and end up thinking, "What was that?" I felt that way late Saturday night after watching Wladimir Klitschko jab his way to victory over a foe who looked hopelessly overmatched.

Yes, Klitschko fought a skillful fight. I gave him all but two rounds, and the only reason Sultan Ibragimov got the nod in those two was because Wlad threw virtually no punches. His jab snapped Ibragimov's head back with authority and his laser-like right hand - when he threw it, which was sparingly - was usually on target. He also was effective on defense, swatting away his foe's jabs and quickly smothering Sultan any time the smaller man tried to jump inside.

And yes, I'm fully aware that Klitschko's chin is, to put it nicely, not the greatest. He's also focused on the bigger picture, which is unifying the four heavyweight title belts.

I also know it's easy for me to ask someone to risk his health from the safety of my keyboard. That aside, the question is, if Wlad's quest for unification involves more stinkers like last night, will anyone care? The Madison Square Garden crowd was solidly behind Dr. Steelhammer and was ready for him to blast Ibragimov out of there. Instead, the fans voiced their displeasure with Klitschko's tactics on numerous occasions.

When you're comfortably ahead on points and your trainer is in the corner before the 12th round imploring you to go for the knockout, you know something's not quite right. Emanuel Steward can see the big picture too, and he knows the boxing public is going to demand more of its undisputed heavyweight champion than a stiff jab and healthy margins on the socrecards. Even Klitschko admitted in the post-fight interview that he needs to knock everyone else, so let's hope we don't see any repeats of Saturday's fight from here on out.

While I muddled through the round by round report of Klitschko-Ibragimov, one of the few bright spots was the commentary of Lennox Lewis, hands down one of the kings of unintentional comedy. Several times he made comments that had me and the people watching the fight with me laughing out loud.

For example, when one of the other HBO commentators compared the fans' displeasure with the fight to similar sentiment of Lewis' 1998 decision victory over Zeljko Mavrovic, Lennox deadpanned, "At least I was trying to knock him out." You have to wonder at times if Lewis listens to the broadcasts later and chuckles at himself, but it's all good. You kept me entertained big guy, and I'm grateful for that.

Finally, here's a quick plug for HBO's Joe Louis special that aired before the fight - and will be replayed numerous times. It was informative and touching, and a great look back at a time when boxing held a lot more power over the general public than it does today.