A New Title Bout II Strategy Card System

Jack Johnson vs. Wladimir Klitschko

(and the Use of the New Strategy System: Coming Soon!

The fight had evolved just as the pundits expected. Jack Johnson playing the clown, trying to upset Klitschko, moving and boxing and clinching. Klitschko, on the other hand, didn’t responded to the taunting, keep cool, content to try to box with Johnson and wait for an opening for his power punches.

Ironically, it was Jackson who tried every trick in the book – legal or otherwise – and after Johnson clearly threw an elbow in the 7th round, Referee Mills Lane stopped the action and instructed the judges to take a point away from him. Lane had already warned Johnson twice for low blows and cautioned him over and over about hitting behind the head and breaking clean out of clinches.

But as the 11th round of the 12-round bout approached, it appeared that Johnson was unofficially ahead by anywhere from 2 to 4 points.

That was the situation in the Title Bout II 12-round bout between Jack Johnson and Wladimir Klitschko. There had been no knockdowns, although Klitschko had hurt Johnson twice, once in the 1st round and again in the 6th. In the 6th, Johnson had to weather a massive assault by Klitschko when Dr. Steelhammer caught the Galveston Giant with Johnson’s hands dangling at his side, taunting Klitschko. A wicked right cross nearly put Johnson down.

With Klitschko clearly winning the 6th and then benefiting by Mills Lane taking a point away from Johnson in the next round, Klitschko seemed to be gaining momentum in a bout that was either even or had Jack Johnson slightly ahead. Johnson had used his superior boxing skills and defense to throttle much of Klitschko’s attack and thwart Klitschko’s size and reach advantage. However, Klitschko’s power shots and Johnson’s penchant for fouling were keeping Dr. Steelhammer in the fight.

But the next three rounds, the 8th, 9th and 10th showed Johnson at his best. Klitschko’s power had earned Johnson’s respect, and for three rounds Johnson feinted, moved and countered like the master boxer he is.

Sitting in his corner before Round 11, Klitschko’s corner pulled no punches (excuse the pun) and told Wladimir that they believed he was behind on the scorecards. After a brief discussion about the dangers of leaving everything until the final round, they advised Dr. Steelhammer to try to cut off the ring and end the fight – go for the stoppage win.

Jack Johnson had no intention of changing his strategy of fighting outside and using movement to avoid the powerful blows of Klitschko. Why change what was working. Klitschko had been instructed to go for it all, go for the knockout. Now it becomes a matter of who would impose his will on the opponent.

So . . . Round 12

In Title Bout II which strategy prevails is handle as follows:

The three factors that determine which of the two strategies (assuming each fighter has selected one) are the fighter’s Strategy Rating found on each fighter’s card - FI, FO, CU and KO; and his corner rating.
The fighter’s Corner Rating can be determined at random or through the rating of an actual Corner Man. The last factor is a Random Number: Unless the difference between the two strategies is 11 or more – which would only occur if an outstanding fighter was facing a bottom rung opponent – each fighter selects a card and applies THE SECOND DIGIT of the RN to his Total.

After determining Johnson and Klitschko’s “subtotal” each corner/fighter/player draws a card to obtain a RN result.

In this example:

Johnson’s corner draws a RN 24 and uses only the 4 to bring Johnson’s TOTAL to 23 (19+4).

Klitschko’s corner draws a RN of 36 and uses only the 6 to bring his TOTAL to . . . 22 (16+6)

Jack Johnson’s Total is 3 points higher than Klitschko’s; therefore, all Strategy Adjustments will be taken from Jack Johnson’s choice of strategies, in this case KEEP AWAY and applied to him.

And if There’s a Tie:

In the case of a TIE when Totals are compared, EACH fighter may select ONE characteristic to improve from the those listed on his Strategy Card vs his Opponent’s Strategy Card.

Instead of Jack Johnson winning the Strategy comparison, let’s assume that the result was a tie.

Johnson would consult his KEEP AWAY (FO) strategy card and look at the adjustments against an opponent who selected GO FOR THE KO (KO). Johnson’s could improve his CF by 2 or increase his DEF by 3 (subtracting 3 from his PL is obviously a negative effect).

If we had gone with the Johnson “strategy win”, Johnson would have had to adjust all three categories: CF, PL, DEF.

Klitschko would follow the same procedures as Johnson in the event of a tie. Checking the GO ALL OUT FOR THE KO (KO) strategy vs. KEEP AWAY, we find that Klitschko can choose either a big improvement in his DEF (+4) or lower his KD1 rating by 1. Had Dr. Steelhammer prevailed in the strategy tiebreaker, he would have received both benefits.

ADDITIONAL RULES

Unlike previous strategy rules, a fighter can no longer change his choice of strategies during the round. Even if the fighter is knocked down and wants to switch from Work the Body to Defensive Shell, the fighter can no longer do so.
If one fighter selects NO STRATEGY before the round starts, his opponent’s choice of strategies is automatically employed, and full adjustments are made.
If EVER both fighters select the same strategy in a given round, BOTH fighters adjust their categories by whatever appears on the card. In some cases, like both fighters selecting KEEP AWAY, the round will probably feature little or no action. On the other hand, if both fighters decide to GO FOR THE KNOCKOUT, you’re going to have fireworks. The round, again in most cases, should be action packed, with each fighter having streaks of hard punches landing.
When a Random Number is selected that ends in “0” that numeral is treated as a “0” NOT A TEN!
PLUSES IN PARENTHESIS UNDER DEF HEADING: these IMPROVE defense. So, a (+3) added to a fighter whose DEF is a “0” would be -3. I’ve chosen to do it this way to keep everything parallel.

TO DOWNLOAD AND PRINT THESE "RULES", CLICK ON THE LINK THAT FOLLOWS: Rules Download

TO DOWNLOAD THE ACTUAL STRATEGY CARDS, CLICK ON THE LINK THAT FOLLOWS: StratCards Download