The Cruiserweight has given us some great fights recently with last weekends bout between Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Troy Ross being one of the very best fights of the year. This weekend we get another Cruiserweight title treat as WBC champion Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (46-2-1, 33) makes the fourth defense of his title as he faces Puerto Rican born American based Fransico Palacios (21-1, 13). This bout, a rematch of one of last years most controversial title bouts promises a lot, though will it deliver?
With 49 bouts on his record it's somewhat easy to forget that Krzysztof Wlodarczyk is just 31 years old. It feels as if the Pole has been around for years and to be honest he has, having made his debut a little more than 12 years ago. Despite a really long career Wlodarczyk is somewhat of an unknown outside of the hardcore boxing community, despite the fact he literally fought a who's who of Cruiserweight's.
Wlodarczyk started his career with 20 straight wins and claimed both the IBF Inter-Continental Cruiserweight title and the Polish Cruiserweight before suffering a controversial technical decision loss to Pavel Melkomyan in Germany. Despite the bout being ruled a technical stoppage due to a clash of heads replays seemed to suggest that the fight ending cut was scored by a punch.
It wouldn't take long for Wlodarczyk to bounce back from his first loss and he swiftly captured the WBC Youth Cruiserweight title and soon afterwards the World Boxing Foundation Cruiserweight title. Despite these title wins it wasn't until he claimed the European Union title by stopping Ruediger May in 2005 that he really started to announce himself.
In 2007 Wlodarczyk claimed his first world title as he controversially out pointed American Steve Cunningham for the IBF Cruiserweight title, though his reign was short lived as Cunningham claimed a majority decision in a rematch just 6 months later. This wasn't to be the end of Wlodarczyk at the top level however and just 2 years later Wlodarczyk would challenge Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni for the WBC Cruiserweight title. Despite dropping Fragomeni, the judges scored the bout a draw.
Almost exactly a year after the draw between Fragomeni and Wlodarczyk the two men fought again this time Wlodarczyk would come out on top taking an 8th round TKO victory. Since then Wlodarczyk has defended his title 3 times, including a controversial decision win over Palacios and an 11th round TKO over Australian Danny Green.
Wlodarczyk's record would indicate he's probably a power puncher but in all honesty he's not a powerful hitter, especially not at world level however he is a grinder and hits hard enough that you feel his shots even if no single blow will take an opponent out. Sadly however the Pole can be frustrating to watch as he can often lose focus in bouts and give rounds away by doing nothing, a problem we saw in a number of rounds against Green last time out. At his best he's exceptional, capable of throwing hurtful shots to the head and body and using very accurate fast jabs, at his worst however he's really awful.
At 35 years old Palacios is the older man, though he hasn't had the ring years of the champion. In fact not only has Palacios only fought 22 times as a professional but he's also only been a pro since 2004. Despite his relatively short professional career Palacios has a solid amateur background and he competed at the 2003 World Amateur Championships (losing controversially to Erbol Babayev).
Since turning over to the paid ranks Palacios has adapted well and started his professional career with an impressive 20 straight wins. In those 20 fights Palacios claimed the WBA Fedelatin Cruiserweight title by impressively stopping former world title challenger Luis Andres Pineda and defended that belt once stopping Lawrence Chapman inside a round.
With his amateur background it goes with out saying that Palacios is a talented fighter and knows how to use all of the punches in book with his busy jab being a key yo many of his attacks. He's at his best however when he's able to let his hands go something he used effectively when he first faced Palacios last year, sadly however the referee repeatedly broke up the action when Palacios was getting the better of it.
With the controversial nature of the first bout, which many though Palacios had won, this bout is a long awaited rematch and one that many fans would have preferred to have seen last year however it still serves to be an intriguing bout.
Against Green, Wlodarczyk looked like he was a fighter who didn't want to fight any more, he was a man who looked to be there in body but not in mind until he felt his title was being taken from him. Against Palacios he's fighting a much better fighter than Green and one who is there to take the title back from Poland come hell or high water and one who I feel will not be denied this time around. Expect Wlodarczyk to be forced to work at a high tempo, something that will not like suit him and expect him to lose rounds as a result. Whilst the judging may be questionable I just can't see the "3 wise men" favouring Wlodarczyk quite as much as they did last time, especially after the backlash by those watching.
Prediction-Palacios SD12
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