By Luke Furman

Heavyweight contender Johnathon Banks, who now trains WBO/IBO/WBA/IBF champion Wladimir Klitschko, was shocked that Mariusz Wach took so much punishement and lasted the entire twelve rounds on Saturday night in Hamburg. The Polish giant showed a giant chin, filled with iron, as he took every punch possible punch from Wladimir and never once was he seriously hurt.

"To be honest, I was quite shocked that he was able to survive such powerful punches. It surprised me more than anything else. Wladimir hit him with some very good shots. I think we all were impressed by the fact that the Wach did not go down. I am convinced that no one before the fight thought [Wach] was capable of withstanding the shots. After all, he's never been hit by punches that strong. He showed great determination and I think he has an interesting future," Banks said.

"Klitschko did not have any problems. He had the entire fight under his control. He knew from the beginning to the end, what was happening in the ring. But I must admit that maybe the opponent was a little underestimated. We knew he would be perfectly prepared for Wladimir and that he would not be such an easy fight as everyone thought. Wach said he would be able to last the full twelve rounds and that's what showed up. Wladimir, however, dominated the fight, but I think overall it was certainly a very good boxing match."

Luke Furman covers boxing for bokser.org.