Boxing fever hits Germany

2003-06-18 11:54

Hamburg - Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko have had plenty of time to dream on their jogs through the Eichtal park towards Hamburg's Alster lake.

Since arriving in the northern German city in the mid-1990s, the Ukrainians have been plotting to hold world heavyweight title belts simultaneously.

On Saturday, the dream could become reality for Vitali when he fights Briton Lennox Lewis for the World Boxing Council (WBC) crown.

Germany, where the likeable brothers enjoy celebrity status, has already been conquered.

Since making the unremarkable Universum Gym in the unfashionable district of Wandsbek their boxing home seven years ago, the Ukrainians have been adopted as local heroes.

German boxing fans will be setting their alarm clocks before dawn Sunday for what is being billed here as the "fight of the year".

When Vitali Klitschko steps into the ring with Lewis at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles it will be shortly after 04:00 on Sunday in Germany.

Unusually in these days of pay TV, a world heavyweight title fight is being broadcast live on national public television.

A year ago ZDF signed a deal to broadcast fights involving Universum boxers in the hope that eventually one of the gym's two top-draw heavyweights would get a world title shot.

With the fight on free TV, it is being compared to the days - or nights - when bleary-eyed boxing fans got out of bed to see Muhammad Ali in action.

Although German Axel Schulz fought a number of title bouts in the mid-1990s, including one against George Foreman in April 1995, 31-year-old Klitschko is seen as a genuine champion and Lewis the best fighter in the business.

Since his first professional fight in Hamburg in 1996, Vitali Klitschko and younger brother Wladimir - an Olympic gold medallist that year in Atlanta - have been nurtured towards the top by Universum promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl.

Intelligent and articulate in their heavily-accented German, the brothers hardly fit the cliche of the fighters who saw the ring as an escape from the ghetto.

Sons of an air force colonel and a teacher, they are both university educated with doctorates. Vitali, now resident in Los Angeles, gained a PhD in sports science with a dissertation on "sport talent and talent promotion", earning him the nickname "Doctor Iron Fist".

But although both are highly marketable, their talent in the ring at the highest level is still questioned by the critics. At a towering 2.02m, Klitschko undoubtedly packs a punch, but several of his early quick knock outs were against no-hopers.

Wladimir, 27, who is regarded as the better prospect, recently lost his fringe World Boxing Organisation (WBO) title to the South African Corrie Sanders

After Vitali Klitschko surrendered his WBO belt to American Chris Byrd in April 2000 - the result of a shoulder injury which forced him to retire while seen ahead on points - critics, especially those in the United States, questioned his mentality.

German fight fans in online polls this week forecast a Klitschko knock-out victory to give him the WBC belt. But 37-year-old Lewis is a step up in class for the Ukrainian.

Klitschko can perhaps take heart from one of his heroes. For it won't be the first time a little-regarded fighter from Germany has crossed the Atlantic to stun the boxing world.

Max Schmeling became a boxing legend when he knocked out the then undefeated Joe Louis on June 19, 1936. Can Klitschko do the same? Schmeling, now 97, and closely following Klitschko's career from his home south of Hamburg, believes victory over Lewis is possible.

"He told me to be focused and concentrate, and I will get everything I want," Klitschko said.

A victory over Lewis in Los Angeles, and the dream can continue for the two brothers on their runs through the park. - Sapa-DPA

- SAPA