New York, N.Y. - There's Livingstone Bramble, the former WBA world Lightweight champion, 1980 Olympian. He's sitting in the lobby of the Affinia Hotel across the street from Madison Square Garden. It's about 6:30, moments before the start of the opening bout on tonight's big heavyweight unification showdown between Wladimir Klitschko and Sultan Ibragimov at The Garden. If you recall, Bramble took the lightweight title from Ray Mancini by TKO 14 in Buffalo in 1984. Bramble says that night in Buffalo was one of his two finest ring performances. "The best performance I had by far was the fight I had with Kenny Bang Bang Bogner and the first Mancini fight. Those are the best fights of my whole career." I ask why. "Because Kenny Bogner was 12-0, I was 6-0. And he came at me, he came to fight. He wanted to beat me, he didn't like me. He disliked me. And I think it made a lot come out of me. It made me bring out a lot of stuff that probably wouldn't have ever come out at that point in my career. So that has to be a telling point in my career, knowing what I did was positive and good (Bramble won by TKO 7 in 1981). For Mancini - I trained hard for that fight. Ray fought his ears off the first fight but I was much more prepared to beat him then he was. I think I ate more spaghetti then he would ever eat. So I was the real Italian that day. They should change my name from Bramble to Brambelini that night. Brambelini!"

Bramble is still in superb shape, he trains some young fighers including his son, he's still an avid runner, and already in training for the 5k run at Canastota Hall of Fame weekend in June. Bramble good-naturedly sneers when we mention some of his competitors in the race, like Marvin Hagler, Michael Carbajal and Micky Ward.

Bramble respects Wladimir Klitschko and doesn't foresee much danger tonight against Sultan Ibragimov. "Klitschko is a good one right now. Europe always presents themselves as a good heavyweight from way back. I think these kids are really good kids, how strong they are. I personally think if I was still working with Samuel Peter he would stop him early. I worked with Samuel Peter for a while. The way I would fight Klitschko is I would get in there and make a street fight out of it. Because you're not going to beat him technically, at a technical game. You gotta rough him up. Rough him up on the inside, and take some of that early energy from him where he can't stabilize his boxing and I think you'll beat him."

But it's a lot easier said than done. They all seem to think Wladimir is fragile underneath all the muscle and near-perfect technique. The truth is Wladimir is just dominating everyone for the last two years. Previously unbeaten Calvin Brock and Chris Byrd were annihilated in mismatches. As were Lamon Brewster and Ray Austin. It's a total annihilation of heavyweight boxing, like only a select few from history have been able to do - Joe Louis, Larry Holmes, Muhammad Ali, Jack Johnson.

Team Ibragimov is confident for this fight. Sultan Ibragimov is one of those strong tough guys from the mountains of Russia. He's fast of hand and foot, throws a lot of combinations upstairs and downstairs, and when he gets you hurt, seems to turn into a human piranha. Javier Mora got blitzed with about 30 punches in 15 seconds before crumbling in less than two minutes against Ibragimov a couple of years ago here at the Garden. Ibragimov smiled one of those knowing smiles at Klitschko at the press conference and weigh-in staredowns. Klitschko appeared unfazed but you never know. A cornerman for Ibragimov was happy about another development at the weigh-in. Before the photo staredown, Ibragimov took a step at Klitschko and the bigger man by five or six inches did not hold his ground and backed up.

Tonight there is a lot of energy and excitement inside the Garden. Celebrity row is packed with Bruce Willis, Brooke Shields, Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, David Tyree, Kelly Pavlik, Will Ferrell, Miguel Cotto, Ruslan Chagaev, Plaxico Burress, Junior Jones, Carlos Ortiz, Thomas Hearns, Antonio Pierce, Arturo Gatti, Emile Griffith and Luan Krasniqi. All of the undercard bouts are one-sided, but the chief prelim between John Duddy and Walid Smichet is a bloody slugfest with lots of action.

It's a perfect warm-up for the main event. However, in boxing, often times the higher the skill level and more distinguished the credentials of the boxers, the less action you will see. Klitschko did not throw a right hand in round one. Or two or three.  This is standard operating procedure for Dr. Steelhammer. He likes to establish his left hand and range in the first three or four rounds before suddenly and sneakily throwing his first right. It's an interesting style. Klitschko is extremely cautious but at the same time he's constantly right smack in front of Ibragimov, looking for an error or opening to seize upon. Klitschko never even threw a single right hand during the second-round slaughter of Ray "I'm going to put his chin in a box" Austin. Ray Austin has not been seen or heard from since.

By the end of round two Ibragimov, who had boasted that he would test the Klitschko chin early, is already showing physical signs of confusion. As he walks back to his corner, he makes a gesture of frustration with his shoulders. In round three Klitschko begins to hit the target with his jab. Ibragimov can't seem to land any scoring blows. He can't solve this perplexing puzzle presented by the gigantic Ukrainian.

In round four Klitschko finally throws his first right but it misses. The guy sitting next to me in the mezzanine a few rows behind Arturo Gatti remarks, "He's like a giraffe."

Round six both heavyweight champions are waiting for the other to go. I don't think Klitschko has even been hit yet. They could box for 12 hours like this. Maybe this kind of boxing is why fights used to last 75 rounds in the old days. I look over to the black guy sitting three seats to my left. He is sound asleep, head leaning against the railing. His mouth is half-open.

Klitschko throws more rights in round 8. Ibragimov senses the urgency in Klitschko to please the crowd and eliminate him and also begins to fight with a sense of crisis. Still, nothing much happens.

The military uniformed guy sitting to my right shouts, "Come on, hit him with the right! Thank you." Just as one finally lands. "Come on, he's open for the combinations!"

In round 11 there are a few missed punches by both heavyweights and the crowd reacts. "Everybody's cheering for the misses." Missed punches are better than no punches.

Midway through the final round, two young ladies get up from their seats and begin to exit, "Good night," they say. "Thank God I didn't pay for my ticket," proudly states the military man.

After the decision is announced, I hear another black man speaking loudly into his phone, "This wasn't a fight. How do you score a NON-FIGHT?"

Librado Andrade, the top 5 super middleweight boxer asks me, "How could they earn $6,000,000 to do that? You just saw Smichet fight his heart out for $10,000." Smichet vs.Duddy was the only real fight of the night, Smichet landed everything including the kitchen sink on Duddy but Duddy, said some reporters, did enough to outpoint him. A draw might have been a more just decision than the majority nod the judges awarded him. If Bob Arums goes ahead with it, Duddy vs. Pavlik might go down as the worst mismatch in middleweight history.

Overall it was a somewhat disappointing heavyweight unification that did not live up to expectations. I thought it was similar to Lewis vs. Holyfield here nine years ago. Emanuel Steward compared it to the defense-oriented Muhammad Ali-Jimmy Young 15-round yawner. Sometimes these big fights are like that. Klitschko and Ibragimov are both smart, accomplished, technical boxers who will let the bombs drop when they feel comfortable. Big and tall vs. short and stocky, lefty-righty, maybe we should have seen this coming.

"I have to be sure I'm going to land it," explained Klitschko about not throwing as many right hands as the audience wanted to see. "He's a very good counterpuncher."

After successive brutal stoppage wins over Byrd, Brock, Brewster and Austin, Klitschko was due for a distance fight. Mike Tyson had Bonecrusher, Holyfield had to go 12 with George Foreman, Lennox Lewis couldn't finish off Zelkjo Mavrovic. But another uneventful performance like this sure won't hurt business over at the UFC. 

So bring on Valuev, Chagaev, Peter for Wladimir. And if they can't bring an adequate challenge for King Klitschko, I know one fighter who will. Miguel Cotto.


Scoop Malinowski's book "Tyson vs. Lewis Heavyweight Armageddon!" will be released in June.