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Klitschko's Confidence
By Doug Fischer (June 18th, 2003)
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LOS ANGELES — Two weeks ago, Vitali Klitschko learned that he would finally get an opportunity to fight for the heavyweight championship of the world, something he's dreamt about since he was an amateur boxer. But the 6-foot-7, 245-pound contender did not jump for joy when he heard the news that heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis agreed to defend his WBC title against him this Saturday. (And maybe that's a good thing. If Klitschko were to jump for joy with his equally massive brother, Wladimir, the two Ukrainian giants would probably register a 2.0 on the Richter Magnitude Scale).
Klitschko, 32-1 (31), stayed as cool as he does when he fights upon learning that Kirk Johnson, the original opponent for Lewis, had to pull out of the June 21 title bout to be held at the STAPLES Center because of a sparring injury.
"No emotion," Klitschko stoically told assembled media from Germany, Britain and the U.S. before an open workout at the La Brea Boxing Academy in the Wilshire district of the city. "I knew this fight was coming. This fight is the reason I moved to Los Angeles. It just came sooner instead of later."
Klitschko was originally supposed to share Saturday's card with Lewis in a co-featured bout against undefeated Cedric Boswell, which would have set up a showdown with the heavyweight champ sometime in December of this year. With the fallout of Johnson, it seems as though Klitschko's original timetable to win the world title was suddenly reduced from five months to two weeks, but the former WBO title holder insists that Lewis has always been his focus.
"Ever since I lost to Chris Byrd three years ago I have been preparing to fight for a world championship," he said. "This is a big opportunity for me. It is a chance to beat Lewis -- the biggest, strongest and the best heavyweight out there. I was focused on a fight with Lewis when I moved to L.A. months ago. We were supposed to fight when a fight between Lewis and Tyson could not be made. I signed two contracts to fight Lewis this year and twice he broke them. Finally, I have a contract that has not been broken because of Johnson."
However, despite the legal history between the two heavyweights, the press still wanted to know if two weeks is enough time for Klitschko to be "up" mentally and emotionally for the biggest fight of his career.
"Yes," he said calmly. "My training has been great. All I have had to do is change my style, sparring partners and my strategy. That's all. I am ready with my body 100 percent. I am ready mentally, 100 percent."
Klitschko didn't ball up his fist when he said this. He didn't raise his voice. He didn't have anything nasty to say about his opponent. He didn't guarantee a win or predict the round in which he would knockout Lewis. It was a little bit anti-climactic by American standards, but that's just Klitschko's way. His calmness -- which can be perceived as coldness -- is his way of showing confidence.
Lewis shows confidence in a different way. While the British-born heavyweight champ is no Muhammad Ali when it comes to the gift of gab, he does enjoy reciting a rhyme or two to the media about how he is the baddest big man on the planet, and how he will "eat Klitschko for brunch". The fight fans who view Lewis's boastful comments as blatant arrogance probably appreciate Klitschko's old-school, Joe Louis-like approach to public comments.
"I have respect for Lewis," Klitschko said when asked if Lewis's disparaging comments bothered him. "He's a great heavyweight. His style of commenting on the fight is to boast. That is not me.
"The fight is not at the press conference. It is in the ring. That's why I don't make disrespectful comments."
When the big man made this statement, his quiet confidence became evident to most of the media. But a few among the British press still wanted to test the big man.
When told that Lewis prefers to fight bigger opponents -- and, in fact, likes takes the fight to them -- his only reply was "OK. Let's fight," punctuated by a slight smile.
Why all the confidence?
"Because I have a lot of experience from my amateur career," explained Klitschko, who began boxing in 1985 and compiled a 195-15 amateur record that included 80 stoppages, "and I have the best sparring partner in the world to prepare for fighting Lewis -- I have my brother Wladimir. No one can better prepare me to fight a big, strong, tall boxer like Lewis than my brother."
Wladimir, who stands 6-foot-6 and has a more orthodox boxing style -- much closer to that of Lewis than his older, bigger brother -- says a boxing scene in the recent remake of the movie Ocean's Eleven that he did with the heavyweight champ two years ago has helped him prepare Vitali for Saturday's bout.
"I played myself in the ring versus Lewis in Ocean's Eleven," Wladimir said. "Now I play Lewis in the ring when sparring with my brother. Even though we were pretending to fight in the movie, I could still pick up little things about Lewis's style that I use to help prepare my brother."
That's all Vitali says he needs to be ready for his "sudden opportunity" that was three years in the making.
"It's those little things that count in a fight," he said.
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