This is Klitschko’s second fight after his layoff and Gomez is a former cruiserweight champion.
This is also the first heavyweight title fight ever on ESPN. Sadly, it’s not in HD.
R1
Gomez hits pretty quickly after the tap of the gloves. He’s left-handed and is pawing at Klitschko with his jab. Very awkward first round. Klitschko is off-balanced, but Gomez is doing nothing. That was ugly.
R2
Klitschko’s hands are down, almost as if to challenge Gomez to open up a bit so he can counter punch. Klitschko lands two decent right hands. Klitschko hit him twice after the bell. Another ugly round.
R3
Klitschko lands a round house right hand that kind of loops in. He’s now able to keep Gomez at bay by simply sticking his left hand out to keep distance. In the first two rounds, Gomez was able to paw at him with his lead hand, but now Klitschko is controlling him. Easy round for Klitschko.
R4
Klitschko is now moving very well. He’s starting to open up and he’s now moving inside and then outside. His reach is just devastating. Gomez isn’t confusing Klitschko anymore. He’s starting to be a target.
R5
Klitschko has either won every round, or at least four out of five. Gomez might’ve won the first round, but really, nothing at all happened during that round. Gomez has a cut near the corner of his right eye. Klitschko slipped throwing a right hand to the body and I thought his knee buckled, but he doesn’t seem to be bothered. Klitschko lands a nice short right. Gomez is being more aggressive and just missed with a left hand.
R6
Gomez is lunging a bit trying to get inside and he’s landing, but he’s going to take some shots in order to land. Klitschko pushes Gomez with his left hand behind his head and Gomez goes down, but it’s ruled a slip. Gomez has to be tired to slip from something like that. Klitschko knocks Gomez stiff with a jab and Gomez smiles. A head butt looks to have opened up Klitschko high on his head. Easy round for Klitschko. Color commentator Teddy Atlas is all over Gomez for coming inside and trying to clinch. He thinks he’s not fighting to win.
R7
Gomez lands two really good left hands and backs Klitschko up. But once Klitschko was able to get his distance again, Gomez was unable to do anything. Klitschko lands a big right hand and Gomez goes down against the ropes. Gomez is trying to survive. Klitschko hits him with another right hand and Gomez holds onto Klitschko and they both go down, with Gomez pulling him down with him. Gomez barely survives the round. Easy 10-8 for Klitschko.
R8
Brian Kenny says that Klitschko is starting to drop his left hand, but he’s been doing it since the second round. He also says that Klitschko is doing his part to make the fight exciting and bring the action. I’d disagree. He’s doing just enough to win. He should’ve knocked this guy out a few rounds ago. Gomez turns away from Klitschko as if to quit, but the ref doesn’t stop it and he finishes the round.
R9
A point is being taken away from Klitschko after it seems that they bump heads again. He drops him again very quickly after the point was taken away. But Gomez decides to fight on and Klitschko just misses taking his head off with a couple of uppercuts. Gomez gets turned around and his right arm is caught in the ropes. Instead of getting it out, he just hugs the ropes and the ref finally stops it. Thankfully.
Winner: Vitali Klitschko by way of 9th round TKO
That was a pretty ugly fight, though Gomez was game enough to make Klitschko work harder than he probably should’ve.
