Wladimir Klitschko overdid it
He knocked out his opponent too early
Ukrainian Vladimir Klitschko took another step towards a fight with the strongest heavyweights in the world: on Saturday he defeated American Derrick Jefferson by knockout, as he promised before the fight, and defended the title of the strongest according to the World Boxing Organization (WBO).

The fight, which took place in Munich, was essentially designed to attract public attention. First of all, overseas. The American was obviously weaker than the Ukrainian. Vladimir Klitschko, the younger of two heavyweight brothers who train in Hamburg, has long been trying to secure a fight with one of the champions or former champions of the other three, more prestigious versions of professional boxing. This would allow him to reach a fundamentally different level of fees. After all, for this victory he received little by the standards of professional boxing - 3 million marks ($1.37 million). But in America, Vladimir, like his brother before, is still being ignored.
The show was a great success. All eight thousand very expensive tickets were sold out. The fight was broadcast by the American television company HBO, which has a contract with Lennox Lewis. And there were many celebrities sitting in the stands. For example, many football players came to see Klitschko, who is very popular in Germany: Stefan Effenberg, Giovane Elber, Paulo Sergio, Mario Basler, Thomas Haessler ). On this occasion, the German Football Federation even postponed the World Cup qualifying match with the Albanians, which also took place on Saturday in Munich, two hours earlier, otherwise it would have coincided with the boxing match.
Many celebrities from the world of German cinema, television and pop stars could also be seen in the stands. There were also visiting guests. The American band Aerosmith arrived straight from the concert in full force. Her lead singer Steven Tyler, by the way, said after the fight: “This is our first time in boxing. This Vladimir is just a monster. He played real rock and roll with his fists.”
It is also indicative that another fight, which took place in Magdeburg on the same day and in which the German favorite Sven Ottke defended the champion title in the weight category up to 76.2 kg according to a more prestigious version, caused significantly less excitement in Germany. International Boxing Federation (IBF). Despite the fact that Ottke also won, most newspapers published a photo of the Ukrainian on the front page the next day.
Klitschko lived up to the hopes placed on him. Only the biggest skeptics noticed after the fight that he overdid it a little - he “nailed” his opponent too early. The American lasted just over one and a half rounds. The first time he fell into the ring, missing a powerful blow from Klitschko, 96 seconds after the start of the fight. The second time the Ukrainian’s right hand hit him at the very beginning of the second round. And finally, after a few more seconds he was on the floor for the third time, the referee stopped the fight.
Klitschko raised his hands in victory and very soon after that he shouted into the television camera: “The Americans saw everything and understood everything.” At a press conference, he said: “Stop fighting for fun. We have already built a bridge to America. The dress rehearsals are over, it’s time for real fights. I’m ready to fight anyone, but best of all, Lewis or Mike Tyson.” His promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl added: "Negotiations with Lewis's representatives have been ongoing for the second year. We met for the last time just last week. I hope that everything will finally be fine soon."
By the way, before the fight it became known that Klitschko was renewing his contract with Kohl in the near future. Previously, they had friction precisely because the German could not organize a solid fight for his ward.
In America, George Foreman commentated on the fight for HBO in the studio. After Klitschko's last blow, he said: "This guy belongs to the future." Foreman meant that Wladimir won on his 25th birthday, Lewis is now 35 years old, Tyson is 34, and Evander Holyfield is 38.
It only remains to add that a fight between Klitschko and one of the “greats” cannot take place in the near future. Tyson fights in June in Australia, Lewis in April in South Africa, and Holyfield in July in China.

ALEXEY J-ZHUK

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 53 dated March 27, 2001, p. 14

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