Klitschko Page #4

"Don King wants

to talk to you."

Congratulations on your brother's win.

I will be happy to see

you and your brother.

You're welcome to my house.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

I was very surprised

to be suddenly talking to Don King.

Don King!

The man who promoted

Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

Talking to me!

I was in shock.

I spoke to Wladimir

about it later

and we decided to fly over

and visit Don King.

you got to have a good lawyer, you do.

LAMON BREWSTER - FORMER

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

I've seen it so many times.

I had a friend who signed with a promoter.

I won't say his name,

but we all know him very well,

he was a good fighter,

and I said, "Well,

why did you sign with him without a lawyer?"

He said,

"Because he put more money in front of me

"than I have ever

seen at one time."

So he told me that

when he set the money on the table,

he said,

"Look, I'm offering you this now, if you...

"You have to sign right now,

because I won't offer it to you later."

So he said he signed,

but he signed his life away.

Welcome. Welcome.

How are you? How are you?

Great to see you guys.

Wow! Welcome.

- Okay, so that's Wladimir and Vitali.

- Wladimir. Vitali.

Hi, guys.

I follow all your career.

You are the best one.

You sign this contract.

The golden mounts come to you.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

How would we get

these mountains of gold?

I didn't understand.

He told us just to sign.

And I thought to myself, "No."

I said, "Wladimir,

we don't have to sign anything."

to make money here, all over the world.

Today here,

tomorrow the world.

We're one big happy family.

Piano. Special for you.

I play some special song.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

He sat down and

started playing like a professional.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

We were impressed and thought,

"What a multi-talented person!

"He's not just

a boxing promoter. He's an artist, too."

DON KING PLAYS:
"DON GIOVANNI

- OVERTURE," W. A. MOZAR

Yes, he really was an artist.

I walked around the side

and saw that it was all a fake.

The piano was playing itself.

I could see one of the pedals

moving without him touching it.

That's right!

I am a Berliner.

(VITALI SPEAKING)

He was certainly an actor.

We decided to turn him down.

We didn't want the deal.

He wasn't an honest person.

There's no promoter who can do that!

No other promoter

can play like that!

Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Thank you!

Thank you very much!

HAMBURG:

(KLAUS-PETER KOHL SPEAKING)

It's normal for a heavyweight

Olympic champion

to get offers from

all over the place,

KLAUS-PETER KOHL

BOXING PROMOTER:

but we had already built up

quite a close relationship.

Power! Get to it!

Come on, jab!

Yes!

(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING)

There are several ways

of training up boxers,

but Wladimir was very young

and had no professional experience

and neither did Vitali.

You can spar and

train all you want,

but it's not

the same as a fight.

PROFESSIONAL BOXING DEBU NOVEMBER 16th, 1996

(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)

At my first

professional match, with my torso bare,

I had small gloves and

no protection at all.

I really had to grit my teeth.

I felt my whole body tingling.

You can feel

the heat of the lights that are shining on you.

Your opponent is there,

and something clicks,

and then you're off.

My hands felt very solid

and I could sense

the amazing power in my fists

due to my hand wraps

and all the new equipment

that you have as

a professional boxer.

Suddenly it all

happened very fast

and he was on the floor.

In my head I was saying,

"Don't get up."

I had this

killer instinct in me.

"Don't get up!

I'll kill you. Don't get up!"

He got up.

Five, six, seven, eight...

(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)

A short right hook.

It's a direct hit!

Take the mouth guard out.

(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)

I thought, "Okay,

we're just boxing."

But I didn't expect

to knock him out.

It gives you a certain kick,

knowing what you're capable of.

I tasted blood, so to speak.

(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)

Winning by KO in the first

round after one minute and 36 seconds,

Wladimir Klitschko!

Ladies and gentlemen,

I think we're

going to have fun with the Klitschko brothers.

(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING)

From the very beginning

they were always asking,

"What is the plan?"

and "What are we doing next?"

The plan was to make them both

world champions.

From the start,

I knew they had what it took.

They weren't taken seriously

because they were so tall

and so different from each other.

(HARTMUT SCHERZER SPEAKING)

When they became professionals

and started knocking everybody out,

often both on the same night

at the same event,

HARTMUT SCHERZER

SPORTS JOURNALIS

that's when you really noticed

that they were

like forces of nature.

Vitali has

an unconventional style.

His brother

thinks it's terrible.

It's impossible to

second guess Vitali. He fights like a cowboy.

His fists hang at his hips,

then he suddenly draws the gun.

He has great reflexes.

He doesn't avoid punches

by keeping his guard up,

but instead by just

using his reflexes.

Wladimir's style,

on the other hand, is more classic.

He has a fantastic left jab,

with which he can

control the whole match.

That's really his best punch.

Wladimir's boxing

is very intelligent.

For him a match is

like a game of chess.

That made me realise

that they had the ability

to become world champions,

at least one of them,

if not both.

WBO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

HERBIE HIDE vs. VITALI KLITSCHKO

June 26th, 1999

(VITALI SPEAKING)

I'm pleased to say

I broke a record.

It's still a Guinness

World Record to this day.

I knocked Hide out

at the start of the second round

and I became World Champion

quicker than Mike Tyson.

In terms of the rounds

and time it took

to win the World

Champion title.

Ladies and gentlemen, after one minute

and 14 seconds of round two,

the winner and the new

WBO Heavyweight Champion of the World,

Vitali Klitschko!

(DAN RAFAEL SPEAKING)

Then in 2000,

I start to cover boxing full-time as my job.

Now you have to

follow the Klitschkos,

to see what's gonna

happen with their careers,

because they had such

a big name in Europe.

Well, Vitali had won

a belt against Herbie Hide,

but there was very few people,

at least in the United States,

DAN RAFAEL:

BOXING JOURNALIS

that really considered that

to be a serious championship.

The expectation,

at least on this side of the pond was,

You know, you need to fight...

"Good for you,

congratulations on winning your belt,

"but you're gonna have to step

up and fight some of our guys

"before we're gonna give you

the props that you deserve."

WBO TITLE DEFENCE

VITALI KLITSCHKO vs. CHRIS BYRD

April 1st, 2000

(BELL DINGS)

CHRIS:
I got in the ring

and when the bell rang, I was like, "wow."

Most of the big guys,

they are not that good.

At that time very slow.

And I love fighting

the big guys,

'cause I can outspeed them

and outmanoeuvre them.

CHRIS BYRD - FORMER

HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD

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