Boxing Match Review: Vitali Klitschko Vs. Juan Carlos Gomez

Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO's) impressively knocked out Juan Carlos Gomez(44-2, 35 KO's) in Round 9 on March 21 in Stuggart, Germany. With this win, Klitschko retains his WBC Heavyweight Championship. He previously won the WBC belt from Sam Peter after coming back from retirement and a 4-year layoff.

This fight almost didn't happened because the day before the fight, the Gomez camp threatened a pullout and had a dispute about the size of the ring. The ring was measured and ruled to be 4 feet shorter than allowed by WBC rules. Later on in the day, the ring was fixed and the fight was back on.

Gomez (a former cruiserweight champion who moved up to heavyweight) entered the ring first, followed by the defending champion, Klitschko (3 time heavyweight champion). The first round was a feeling out process and methodical with Gomez looking the faster fighter and getting off the better shots. But in round two, Vitali began to gain the initiative as he was landing jabs and hard right hands. Gomez was a much more difficult opponent than Sam Peter and it looked like Vitali began to tire in either the third or fourth round. But in round five, it seemed like Vitali got a second wind as this was his best round since the second opening up a cut on Gomez's right eye. In round six, an un-intentional headbutt would open up a cut on Vitali's hairline. This wouldn't stop Klitschko as he would knockdown Gomez for the first time in the fight in round seven with a hard right hook/uppercut. Gomez was on shaky legs and the referee was ready to stop the fight but somehow Gomez made it through the round. Round eight was another dominating Klitschko round as Klitschko landed punches at will hurting Gomez multiple times. Gomez looked tired and hurt. Round nine began with the referee surprisingly taking a point from Klitschko. But seconds later, Klitschko landed a left hook and Gomez was on the canvas again. He bravely got up at the count of eight. Klitschko would land more right hands and left hooks and Gomez would turn his back to Klitschko prompting the referee to stop the fight. Time was 1:49. All in all, a very impressive performance for Vitali Klitschko making his first defense of the title.

Next for Klitschko is a mandatory against Oleg Maskaev and he has within 90 days to fight him. Vitali has already filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland to avoid fighting Maskaev on such short notice. Klitschko has said that he would like to fight 7 foot tall Nikolay Valuev and to unify the WBC and WBA belts. Vitali's younger brother Wladimir, currently has the WBO and IBF heavyweight belts.