Longtime heavyweight champ Klitschko takes on Philly's Jennings

NEW YORK - All Wladimir Klitschko needs to do is survey the landscape to get beyond his age's being anything more than a number, not that it has been much of a problem at all.

One week after the 39-year-old heavyweight champion puts his many title belts on the line against Philadelphian Bryant Jennings on Saturday at Madison Square Garden, Manny Pacquiao, 37, and Floyd Mayweather, 38, recognized as the No. 2 and No. 1 pound-for-pound fighters in the world, will fight for the biggest purse in the sport's history.

Philadelphian Bernard Hopkins, 50, lost his multiple light-heavyweight titles to Sergey Kovalev last year but is still rated No. 2 by Ring magazine.

So when Klitschko (63-3, 54 knockouts), fighting in the United States for the first time in seven years, bemoans the fact that his sparring partners are much younger than he is, the fact remains that the 6-foot-6, 245-pounder continues to be the dominant heavyweight on the planet.

"They are just so much younger than I am," Klitschko said. "I remember when I was the young, hungry guy. I see a lot of them in me. I see a lot of Bryant Jennings in me. He's young and he's hungry."

If the script plays out the way it has since Klitschko knocked out Chris Byrd in the seventh round on April 22, 2006, to become heavyweight champ for a second time, the outcome will be of little surprise. Despite his age, he takes into the ring with him a significant power advantage and a stiff jab that most suspect will be problematic for Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs).

The fight will be Klitschko's 18th title defense, third most in heavyweight history behind only Larry Holmes (20) and Joe Louis (25, the all-time record for any weight class).

On Tuesday at the final news conference here, Klitschko appeared genuinely excited to be fighting again on American soil.

Despite being the heavy favorite, Klitschko said he is not taking the North Philly native lightly, which would be understandable. He's not talking about retiring anytime soon, and there is the potential for a very enticing fight in the not-so-distant future against newly crowned WBC heavyweight champ Deontay Wilder.

"There is a certain reflection of the region where the fighter is coming from, of the trainers that he was working with," Klitschko said. "I think that I'm going to expect a Philly fighter. A fighter from Philadelphia that is similar to [Joe] Frazier and [Tim] Witherspoon and many other fighters from the region. I think it's going to be challenge."

A big question for Jennings, 30, is how he will try to fight Klitschko, who is a better puncher on the outside and has one of the highest knockout percentages in boxing.

The older, grizzled champion sounds prepared for whatever Jennings throws at him.

"I understand that we're all limited in our capabilities," Klitschko said. "Bryant Jennings can fight as Bryant Jennings. He cannot fight like Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali or somebody else."

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Joe Louis Walker plays it his way

Joe Louis Walker, the mighty modern electric and acoustic blues guitarist and singer, appears this weekend at Warmdaddy's in South Philly.

"You know, I like to think of myself as a chameleon," Walker says. "When I picked up the guitar as a kid, I picked it up to be a guitar player - not a blues guitar player."

Walker, born in San Francisco, started playing in churches starting at age 8. "Church was where me and my cousins gigged, where we had to play everything from Junior Walker and the All-Stars to sacred songs to the blues," he says. "The hippies came to my neighborhood, so I got a little of that, too. It was the whole combination of things there."

In 1968, he met up with Chicago guitarist Mike Bloomfield and became his roommate, confidant, and drinking partner. "His sound was one worth emulating," Walker says. Of Bloomfield's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, he says, "It was long overdue, that honor."

Bloomfield's death in 1981 shook Walker, who "got off the treadmill," leaving the music scene. In the following years, he freed himself from drugs and drinking. He attended San Francisco State University and got a degree in music and English. "Education was a wonderful thing," he says. "Still is, as I'm never without a book."

He performed holy songs with the Spiritual Corinthians Gospel Quartet in the Bay Area. "There are a lot of negative forces out there," says Walker. "I watched it happen to so many good ones. I played gospel music exclusively for a time, and that became part of my diet. I love jazz, soul, and R&B and play jazz, soul, and R&B. Then there's rock. I do it all."

By 1985, Walker decided to return to the music life. He began to make records that prove him adept, fluid, and fierce on both acoustic guitar and electric. He's an emotional player and vocalist who reinvents the blues with each record. That includes 1986's Cold is the Night, the 1998 sociopolitical classic Preacher and the President, and the soon-to-drop Everybody Wants a Piece.

That new album has raw, righteous songs such as "Black & Blue," a mix of roadhouse blues, deep funk, and raging, ringing, harmonious rock.

"Hey, man, I put on John Lennon records in the morning and Muddy Waters records at night," Walker says with a laugh. "That's who I am and what my music is."

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