Trainer Michael Kozlowski predicts an easy win for his former fighter Yuri Foreman against Pawel Wolak.

Posted on 01. Mar, 2011 by BoxingCoachMike in News

In the end of January, 2011 Michael Kozlowski’s good Polish friend and co-worker for many years at LinoTextil, Marec Davidovich, excitedly showed the former trainer of Yuri Foreman a Polish Newspaper article and photo about the upcoming fight between Yuri Foreman and Pawel Wolak. Marec Davidovich was one of many people who financially supported Yuri Foreman in his amateur and early professional career and was also one of many who Yuri Foreman forgot to thank.

But Marec’s interest was not in Yuri Foreman’s short memory, but rather in the fact that Pawel Wolak, a fellow countryman of Marec, would be facing Yuri Foreman in the ring. Marek is one of a hundred thousand Polish fans in the USA notorious for passionately following Polish athletes in every sport!

“Mike, what do you think about this fight?” asked Marec Davidovich.

“Yuri Foreman just got another present by fighting Pawel Wolak.” – answered Michael Kozlowski. – “Remember what I said before his fight against Miguel Cotto!”

“At that time, I didn’t pay enough attention to the psychological preparation of Yuri Foreman. I was sure that at age 30, he would act more like a man, but it didn’t happen as I explain in the following article.”

“In my opinion, – continued Michael Kozlowski, – Pawel Wolak’s team still doesn’t understand the difficulty of this fight! They think that since Cotto easily beat Foreman, that Wolak just has to pressure Foreman from the first seconds of the fight. But the team of the Polish boxer doesn’t understand that it was not the real Yuri Foreman that night against Miguel Cotto in Yankees Stadium, but only a shadow of Yuri Foreman! In this fight against Pawel Wolak, Yuri Foreman will be different. He will easily outbox Wolak. Keep in mind that many boxing experts before the Cotto fight predicted an easy win for Yuri Foreman.”

“For many years, Pawel Wolak and Yuri Foreman trained in the same gym, but they never sparred with each other, because Yuri Foreman was always on a higher level than his Polish club mate. Unlike Cotto, Pawel Wolak is simply not the same caliber boxer as Yuri Foreman! Pawel Wolak, in contrast to Yuri Foreman, has a big heart, but it will not be enough against much better technique, power and a very enduring Belorussian born opponent.

Also, the Polish boxer is in for another disagreeable surprise! When they clinch, Pawel Wolak will discover how strong Yuri Foreman actually is, like a wrestler…”

“But, Mike, I heard Tommy Brooks is training Pawel Wolak. – argued Marec Davidovich, – he trained Yuri Foreman too! So, he will know Foreman’s weaknesses.”

“Marec, come on, you know there was only one real trainer of Yuri Foreman!” answered Michael Kozlowski, the original coach of Yuri Foreman. “The fact that Pawel Wolak is training with Tommy Brooks will only help Yuri Foreman. Foreman has changed trainers many times throughout his professional career, but you have to be blind if you don’t see that his skills, technique, footwork and conditioning are all from his real trainer, Michael Kozlowski! With the American coaches, Yuri Foreman began to box much worse than he did with me from the beginning of his amateur until his fifth professional fight! Yes, now Yuri Foreman does run from his opponent and doesn’t fight enough! But this is not the fault of his former Russian trainer. It is the fault of his American trainers who can’t understand Yuri Foreman’s boxing style! This explains why Pawel Wolak’s new trainer, Tommy Brooks, will be very good for Yuri Foreman. Tommy Brooks doesn’t know Yuri Foreman as well as Yuri Foreman knows Tommy Brooks. He knows that Tommy Brooks can’t give Pawel Wolak anything against his Russian boxing style!”

“Mike,- asked Marec, – what if you trained our Polish fighter?”

“If I trained Pawel Wolak, he would destroy Yuri Foreman. But, I would need at least two months!” answered the former trainer of Yuri Foreman. “A couple of weeks ago, – he continued, – I told Pawel Wolak’s manager,” If you want to see what will happen in the ring with your fighter, let him spar with my student who is the same size and has the same technique and footwork as Yuri Foreman. You will see that your boxer can do nothing but shadow box against Foreman!” But, his manager never got back to me…”

In the end of conversation, Michael Kozlowski smiled and told his Polish friend, “Marec, you do have a little bit of hope: When Yuri Foreman was an amateur boxer, he lost twice in International tournaments against Polish fighters who were not as good as him, because he was nervous. Maybe it will happen again in Las Vegas on March 12th!”