By Ian S. Palmer
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk will attempt to successfully defend his WBC Cruiserweight Championship at home in Wroclaw, Poland on Sat. Sept. 22 in a rematch with Francisco Palacios of Puerto Rico. The champion has an impressive record of 46-2-1 with 33 KOS while Palacios enters the ring with a 21-1 record with 13 KOs. These two know each other well as Wlodarczyk beat him by a split decision in April of 2011.
Since they last met, Wlodarczyk has looked impressive in an 11th-round knockout win over Australia’s Danny Green while trailing on all three scorecards. Palacios has taken on Joell Godfrey since then and beat him by an eight-round unanimous decision last November.
Wlodarczyk is a basic boxer who sticks to a simple game plan. He keeps his guard up high and has a pretty solid chin. He’s shown in the past that he can take solid shots and then return the favour with decent power punches of his own. Palacios is a pretty good boxer with decent skills and is quite effective as a counter puncher. The Puerto Rican has above average hand speed; fights well from the outside and can throw a punishing left hook to the body.
Wlodarczyk will try to pressure him and fight on the inside and then tie Palacios up when he can. He’s got pretty good size at 6-foot-1 with a 75-inch reach. He turned pro back in 2000 and has fought mostly European opponents. However, he beat Steve Cunningham by a split decision at home in Poland to win the IBF vacant title in 2006. He lost it just six months later though in a rematch at home when he came out on the wrong end of a majority decision.
The 30-year-old drew with Italian Giacobbe Fragomeni for the WBC crown in 2009, but then knocked him out in the eighth round a year later in a rematch to earn the vacant title. He’s defended it three times, including the wins over Green and Palacios.
The 35-year-old Palacios turned pro in 2004 and has fought mostly in the USA. Other than Wlodarczyk, the only name most average boxing fans may recognize is Donnell Wiggins, who he beat by a second-round KO in October of 2010. He’s not an overly powerful puncher, but has a good chin. The only man to beat him so far has been Wlodarczyk and that was a close decision. He’s got an in advantage min height over the champion as he stands 6-foot-2.
Palacios has probably learned more from the first meeting than the champion and he knows what he’ll have to do to earn a win in Poland. He says he’s going to throw caution to the wind, this time and simply throw a lot of punches to go for the win. However, he’ll need to knock the hometown fighter out or completely dominate him to get the W.
Wlodarczyk may have just had an off night the first time they met and he needs to be a lot better this time around. Odds are he will be, and will retain his title again by a decision.
