Vitalii Klitschko defeats Sanders to win WBC heavyweight title (05/02/04)

Vitalii Klitschko defeats Sanders to win WBC heavyweight title

by Andrew Nynka

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - With a dominating performance that has put him at the helm of the heavyweight division, Ukrainian Vitalii Klitschko won the highly regarded World Boxing Council heavyweight championship by pummeling South Africa's Corrie Sanders at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on April 24.

Klitschko's performance, which came on the heels of his younger brother's loss to lightly regarded Lamon Brewster, largely dispelled any doubt concerning his ability and appears to have positioned him in the center of the heavyweight division as the man to beat.

Klitschko again proved he could handle several severe blows as the overweight but dangerous Sanders caught Klitschko in the first round with a pair of wild lefts that sent the Ukrainian staggering.

Sanders, 38, appeared to knock Klitschko down in the first, but Referee Jon Schorle ruled instead that the 6 foot, 8 inch 32-year-old Ukrainian had slipped. All three of the ringside judges scored the round in favor of Sanders, but things from that point only went downhill for the South African.

Klitschko, who battered Sanders with a barrage of lefts and rights throughout the remainder of the fight, appeared patient and willing to let the bout run its 12-round distance. But by the end of the eighth, Referee Schorle had to stop the fight with 14 seconds left in the round as Sanders, who was taking punches relentlessly, could not recover or protect himself.

Although Sanders, who ended up bruised, battered and bleeding from his mouth and nose, took a tremendous beating, he would not be knocked to the mat. "I was surprised he never went down. He took so many punches," Klitschko told the Associated Press. "Unbelievable. I was surprised."

While Klitschko (34-2) dominated from the second round on, the threat of a big left from Sanders (39-3) still loomed throughout the fight. "I knew his strategy would be to try and land one big punch at a time and if there was an explosion he would try to make another explosion," Klitschko told the AP.

Sanders last fought on March 6, 2003, in Hannover, Germany, where his powerhouse left caught Vitalii's younger brother, Volodymyr, on several occasions to end the fight in the second round.

After suffering a similar blow in the first round, Vitalii appeared unwilling to make his brother's mistake. Klitschko, who at points appeared on the verge of dropping the South African, instead patiently stuck with a series of strong jabs and body shots to eventually wear Sanders down. Of the 413 total punches he threw, Klitschko landed 230, while Sanders could manage to land only 51 of his 229 total punches thrown.

"He was exhausted, he was tired," Vernon Smith, Sanders' manager, said of his fighter after the bout. "He did not disagree with the referee's decision to stop the fight. His biggest regret is he couldn't land his left better."

With the win, Klitschko captured the WBC belt, left vacant after British boxer Lennox Lewis retired. Lewis, who was among the 17,320-person crowd at the Staples Center, listened as Klitschko addressed him at the end of the fight. "You are a big gentleman and absolute champion, but when I was cut 10 months ago you promised me a rematch. So I was upset when you suddenly retired. I challenge you to make your comeback," Klitschko said via a ringside microphone.

Lewis beat Klitschko in June 2003 after a ringside doctor stopped the fight because of severe cuts that Klitschko suffered during the bout. The Ukrainian was leading on all three judge's scorecards and was widely recognized to have gotten the better of Lewis. After that fight Lewis said he would give Klitschko a rematch but then retired several months later.

Klitschko's performance, which has been reportedly generating front page headlines in various media in Ukraine, has also earned him high praise from the country's president. The Associated Press reported that Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma signed a decree on April 26 awarding Klitschko the Order of Courage medal for his victory against Sanders. The decree said that Klitschko's achievements have made him an example of courage, self-sacrifice and the will to win, the AP quoted an anonymous government official saying.

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