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JULY 2000
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THE BIG BROOD
Thus far, the careers of brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have had remarkable parallels. But what does the future hold? GRAHAM MacLEAN investigates |
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BIG BROTHERS: Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko
- Get Big Pic As individuals, the achievements of Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko inside the
boxing ring are noteworthy. But thus far, their careers have run such similar
and intertwined courses that currently it is impossible to look at the
achievements of one without reference to those of the other. Vitali, the older of the two at 28, is a former European champion and, until
recently, was the WBO heavyweight boss with two successful defences in the bank. Wladimir meanwhile, at 24 years of age, was the gold medalist in the super
heavyweight division at the Atlanta Olympics and now holds the European
heavyweight belt. But the fact that they are brothers has helped propel them to household name
status, both in their native Ukraine and in their adopted homeland of Germany.
Admittedly, they are hard to ignore. Even by heavyweight standards the
Klitschkos are giants, each standing at over six and a half feet and weighing
around 240lbs. Of course, it takes more than bulk and a family bond to grab the attention of
the public. When the brothers fight it isn't normally just their surnames that
end with the letters K and O. Wladimir has finished off 25 of his 33 victims
within three rounds, Vitali 23 of 27. In fact, Vitali is yet to hear the final
bell. While such statistics make no mention of the Klitschkos' level of
opposition, they have been marketed effectively by Hamburg's Universum
Box-Promotion, headed by Klaus-Peter Kohl, to a point where American TV deals
were imminent before defeat removed the contracts from the table. Following Vitali's retirement loss to Chris Byrd in April, serious questions
are being asked of his ability to perform at the very highest level. Wladimir
has had one reverse of his own, running out of steam in the late stages against
the journeyman Ross Puritty, but in the last 18 months he has come back and
worked his way into world title reckoning. Vitali will aim to do the same
following surgery to repair shoulder damage sustained in the Byrd fight. The Big
Brood's futures remain promising, if by no means assured. Hailing from the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, the brothers took up boxing in
their early teens. "A trainer came to the school and asked who would like to box,"
said Vitali, who took up the sport at 13 years of age. "Everybody wanted to
and everybody tried, and everybody went to train. A month later a few were left,
and a year later only a couple of people were left. After this I had the feeling
that I could make something of myself as a boxer and then I really started to
train." He went on to win 195 of 210 amateur fights, leading to the 1995
military world heavyweight championship. Wladimir followed in his brother's footsteps, taking up the sport five years
later. "There were various reasons to box, like boredom, but also because
my brother was boxing," he admitted. But as an amateur, his achievements
surpassed those of his sibling. Wladimir's 140 bouts, including 134 wins,
culminated in the Olympic super heavyweight final which he won on points against
the Samoan, Peau Wolfgramm. In 1996 the brothers turned professional with Universum Box-Promotion and
moved to Hamburg, Germany where they were tutored under the expert eye of
leading German trainer Fritz Sdunek. "From the time they were amateurs they were very good anatomically,
because they are very big and good athletically," said Sdunek. For their
size they are very quick, with good reflexes. But when we took them on they
fought in the Russian style and we needed to work on them so that they could
fight more professionally. That was the most difficult thing for me at
first." The early pro records of both brothers feature several anonymous names. A
string of imported American trialhorses provided the kind of the resistance that
a lobster usually gives to a pot of boiling water, while the brothers marched
on. Vitali captured the European title in October 1998, stopping Mario Schiesser
in two in Hamburg, and followed up with two defences against obscure opposition.
The first of these defences took place as the brothers returned to their home
city of Kiev to fight for the first time as professionals. Vitali stopped his opponent, one Francesco Spinelli, in the first round. For
Wladimir it was not so easy. He came unstuck against the American journeyman
Puritty. Wladimir was expected to win comfortably, but he had only once been
eight rounds in his previous 24 fights and ran out of steam. He was rescued by
his corner in round 11, exhausted and taking punishment. "Of course, I was younger then, and sometimes a boxer must lose,"
said Wladimir. "But itis important to see a negative and a positive
side." The latter being that a boxer must know how to pace himself and be
aware of his limitations. "They started [as pros] with an incredibly high tempo and thought that
everything would go very fast," said Snudek. "Then came the defeat
where I stopped the fight with Wladimir in Kiev - they worked a lot better after
this and had more trust in me and from there everything has gone well." The defeat resulted in no lasting damage to the younger, more technically
proficient of the brothers. The questions it raised concerned his stamina rather
than his ability. Talk of a rematch was prevalent, but up to now it still has
not happened. "We have offered Puritty the chance, but he said no so my
thing has to be to look for a world championship. But if the chance comes up to
fight him again in the meantime, I would be happy to fight. This was now nearly
two years ago so I must stop dwelling on it." Two months later, Wladimir returned to the ring and battered Zoran Vujecic
inside a round. Not a name to vastly improve his world standing, but
nevertheless a result to lift his confidence following the loss to Puritty. While still European champion, Vitali was elevated to WBO No. 1 contender.
His enormous power is his prime asset and against the opponents he had faced
this had been more than enough to win easily. But his June 1999 challenge to
Herbie Hide in London in was viewed as a major step up. However, as British fans will recall, the smaller Hide rashly attempted to
take the fight to Klitschko and was punished heavily, losing in two rounds.
"Herbie Hide was a strong opponent," Vitali said "but he had
underestimated me." Indeed. For Wladimir a further three wins followed and then in September 1999 he
faced Axel Schulz for the European heavyweight title vacated by his brother. The
biggest event of the year for German boxing, 18,000 spectators packed the
Cologne Arena to see three-time world title challenger Schulz take on the young
pretender from the Ukraine. Schulz was then being considered as an opponent for Mike Tyson. Opinion was
split about who would win the vacant EBU title fight, but 12 rounds looked
probable. Schulz had never been stopped and had been the distance with top names
such as George Foreman, Frans Botha, Michael Moorer, and Henry Akinwande twice.
Although he hadn't won, the German's durability was without question. As in Vitali's fight against Hide, the large crowd would not be on Wladimir's
side. Even though German sports fans had become fascinated with the Klitschkos,
Schulz was a homebred hero. But Wladimir rose to the challenge in impressive
style, using his left jab to bust up and break down Schulz. The fight was
stopped in the eighth round, when Schulz could no longer see. "This was an important fight for me," said Wladimir "and the
European championship was my first real title. When you fight against a class
fighter with a lot of media interest then itis a big step up, but the important
thing is it went well." Wladimir has fought twice so far this year; against Wolfgramm in a repeat of
the Olympic final, and against David Bostice on the Lennox Lewis-Michael Grant
undercard in New York. Wolfgramm was intended to provide some kind of resistance
but Klitschko easily penetrated his lazy defence and after 90 seconds Wolfgramm
fell so heavily that he never looked like getting up. Bostice had been down four
times when the fight was stopped in the second round. Vitali must now follow his brother's example and rebuild his career following
the surprising loss to Chris Byrd in April. And he has something of a mountain
to climb. After leading on all the scorecards, Vitali appeared unable to catch
the tricky southpaw with any meaningful punches and after the ninth round he
retired with a shoulder injury. The Berlin crowd, unaware of the injury, turned
on the Ukrainian. Worse still, American TV giant Home Box Office decided that
what they saw that night made the elder Klitschko a bad investment. His heart
was in question. Vitali, however, is adamant that the injury (a torn rotator cuff) was the
main reason for the defeat. "After the third round I realised that my
shoulder wasn't okay and I had a lot of pain," said Vitali. "I started
to discuss this with my trainer and he said that it would be no problem. As the
fight went on the pain got worse and worse, and after this I started to fear for
my career." Sdunek added: "Vitali was under a lot of stress going into that fight as
he was studying for his doctorate [see sidebar]. Unlike what many people have
said, the injury really happened during the fight. He needed to start the fight
quietly and box, and not go too quickly, because we knew that Chris Byrd was
difficult. But through the fight he [Byrd] loses his stamina quickly, so we
built on this. But when Vitali couldn't work with his leading hand, and this was
his stronger hand, it was then very difficult and then Chris Byrd became
stronger." The general feeling, though, is that Vitali could have continued for three
rounds and picked up a points win (he led on all scorecards at the time he
retired). Injury or no injury, Vitali did look unimpressive against an opponent
he couldn't hit. It remains to be seen how Vitali would cope against an opponent
who can defend himself and deliver the hard blows which were not in the Byrd
arsenal. Vitali is expected to be back in the ring in October in a warm up fight, and
providing Byrd hasn't lost the title then Universum promise that a rematch will
happen at some time in the forseeable future. It needs to. The elder Klitschko's immediate future depends on the rematch with Chris
Byrd. If he is to achieve his aim of mixing with the very best in the division
then Byrd must be dealt with effectively this time. Admittedly, Klitschko's
preparation was disrupted last time the change of opponent. But then Byrd hadn't
prepared for Vitali, either. The world title scene looks more favourable for the younger Klitschko brother
at the moment. Wladimir will be making his British debut in London on 15 July,
on the undercard to Lennox Lewisis defence against Frans Botha. Klitschko will
not be appearing at London Arena by chance and there is every possibility that a
challenge to the world champion will happen somewhere down the line, providing
that each can avoid defeat. A shot at Lewis is certainly attractive for Wladimir, but should Botha drop
out for any reason, Klitschko won't be jumping in as a late substitute.
"You must really prepare for a world championship fight like this,"
Sdunek said. "As he is now we can train him in six weeks, but for a fight
with Lennox Lewis we really need 10 or 12 weeks." Wladimir is also third-ranked contender for the currently vacant WBA title
and due to challenge the winner of the postponed championship match between
Evander Holyfield and John Ruiz. And Klitschko is in no doubt as to which of the
fighters he would like to face most. "I hope itis Holyfield, it would be
good to fight against him," said Wladimir. "That would be a big thing
for me. I hope that it would take place in a big city, maybe here in Germany. If
that was the case then we would be fighting in our evening time and their
midday." At 24, time certainly appears to be more on "Little Klitschko's"
side. He also looks more comfortable than Vitali in the ring, combining a little
more mobility with the power that the brothers have in both hands. But the time is always right for a brace of big white heavyweights and the
both Klitschko brothers seem destined to play a part in the heavyweight
championship picture as it unfolds over the next couple of years. How big that
part will be remains to be seen. |
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