The #1 Heavyweight in the world, Wladimir Klitschko (59-3, 50) will have been watching on in recent weeks as a number of other top Heavyweights have been on action, though now comes his turn as he faces the unbeaten Italian Francesco Pianeta (28-0-1, 15).
Having seen the likes of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Bermane Stiverne in action it's unlikely that the WBA "Super", WBO, IBF and Ring magazine champion will be shaking in his boots, though at 37 years old those younger men actually look like the future of the division whilst Klitschko himself looks like the present and possibly even the past of the division.
Against the 28 year old Pianeta it's fair to say that Klitschko is a notably older man than his challenger though with age comes his experience and more than twice as many bouts, in fact Klitschko has had almost as many world title fights (22) as Pianeta has total bouts. With "Dr Steel hammer" looking for win #60 it's amazing to think his opponent is entering just his 30's professional bout.
Not only does Klitschko have a clear edge in experience but he's also got the power edge with an eye opening 80.65% of his bouts ending via stoppage in his favour compared to just 51.72% of Pianeta's and that's with out even mentioning the vast quality difference in opponents. To be totally honest it's incredibly difficult to actually point out a Pianeta victory worth talking about with his best opponents so far being the likes of Matt Skelton, Oliver McCall and Robert Sosnowski all distinctly C grade opponents when compared to Klitschko.
Pianeta may be unbeaten but his competition does somewhat explain why and comparing it to Klitschko's competition over the last few years shows the huge disparity in competition with Klitschko holding wins over Sultan Ibragimov, Ruslan Chagaev and David Haye amongst others.
Despite being a southpaw and pretty much the same size as Klitschko it's hard to see Pianeta being anything more than another victim of Klitschko. It's true that Klitschko v Ibragimov (another southpaw) was one of the worst fights in Heavyweight title history but Ibragimov was a very talented fighter and Pianeta really isn't.
Klitschko has a reputation for dragging fights out with his safety first mentality and it's likely he'll do the same here before throwing, and landing the straight right which holds explosive power. With Pianeta being a southpaw he's liable to be caught even more cleanly than orthodox fighters by the straight right ("the kryptonite of southpaw's) and when it connects it'll be good night Mr Pianeta.
Prediction-Klitschko KO8
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