Klitschko Page #8

He took that punch,

even though he was very shaky.

(BELL DINGS)

This is a wonderful fight.

I don't know

what's gonna happen.

EMANUEL:
That is the most

dramatic 12th round

that I have ever experienced

in my 56 years in boxing.

I saw him going out

for the 12th round with Vitali looking at me,

he says, "Emanuel,

will he be able to make it?"

Because we felt he

was ahead on points.

Everybody was praying

that he could make it through this 12th round

and I was, "Oh, my God!"

COMMENTATOR:
Three minutes to define

future identity in the heavyweight division.

(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)

Jab!

He lands a huge one.

And Wladimir is hurt!

(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)

Move to the side!

Let him have it!

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

I then landed a left hook

and he couldn't take it.

most damage he did to Sam Peter all night.

(SPEAKING GERMAN)

To this day, I'm still

amazed he managed to stay on his feet.

He swayed from side to

side like a kastanka.

A kastanka is a doll

with a weight at its base.

Push it and it

sways back and forth.

(SHOUTING)

(CROWD CHEERING)

Ladies and gentlemen, we do have a winner.

All three judges

scored the bout identically,

the Steelhammer,

Wladimir Klitschko!

(HARTMUT SPEAKING GERMAN)

I have great respect

for Wladimir.

The real champions

are the guys

who get knocked out

and really hit rock bottom

and then have the strength

to fight back to the top.

HARTMUT SCHERZER

SPORTS JOURNALIS

the fight and to become number one,

mandatory in IBF and WBO.

And that's my goal, now I'm in this

position to fight for the championship.

(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)

I'm a fatalist.

I believe in destiny.

I wanted to fight,

so I went to the training camp.

I got a slipped disc.

I needed another operation.

After that, I got one

injury after another.

I didn't fight for at

least a year and a half.

My enemy,

my opponent, was my body.

(BERND SPEAKING)

Then he had

problems with his knee and with his back.

He was preparing intensively

for the Hasim Rahman fight

which would have been

pay-per-view in the US.

(VITALI SPEAKING)

It was the highest purse

in my boxing career:

(BERND SPEAKING)

And the week before,

in the last training session,

he tore a knee ligament.

(FRITZ SPEAKING)

He insisted on going ahead

with a bandage on his knee.

He tried it out, but I said,

"Vitali, it won't work.

"Imagine you're boxing

and you step backwards

"and collapse

without being hit.

"You'll look like a fraud.

They'll never accept you after that.

"They'll think you

did it for the cash.

"We don't need to do

that to ourselves."

(VITALI SPEAKING)

If you can't change something,

there's no use getting worked up.

So I said,

"That's it."

(NATALIYA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)

Both I and his parents

talked to Vitali and said:

"Maybe it would be better

if you went into something else.

NATALIYA KLITSCHKO

WIFE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO

"Does it have to be politics?

It's such a thankless task!"

But he said,

"I've made my decision. I'm sticking to it."

(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)

The Ukraine has

huge potential.

But sadly it's not

really being developed.

Corruption continues

to hold the country back.

It's embarrassing to

read the statistics:

the Ukraine is the world's

most corrupt country.

The MPs have immunity.

They have no qualms

about hunting people down.

We've seen many

brutal examples.

(ANNA STAROSTENKO SPEAKING)

The democratic powers

aren't capable of changing things.

They're not able

to get together

ANNA STAROSTENKO - POLITICAL

ASSOCIATE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO

to push through

reforms in the Ukraine.

I think that's

why Vitali decided

that he had to set

up his own party,

a completely different one,

based on western principles.

KIEV:

CITY COUNCIL:

Vitali Klitschko has

Not many, considering

there are 120 MPs altogether,

but nevertheless,

we're the third-largest group.

Chernovetsky, the mayor of

Kiev, and his parliamentary group

make money from their

political decisions.

Quite often they're

unlawful decisions.

So we decided to

occupy the rostrum.

Along came

Chernovetsky's delegates

and they tried to

throw Vitali out.

(VITALI SPEAKING)

I told them,

"Anyone who tries

to attack me again

"will get the same

response as before:

"'Keep your distance'."

(ANNA SPEAKING)

Here, people often

go into politics to make money,

that's their main goal.

In Vitali's case,

it's completely the opposite.

(FALK SPEAKING)

He always gives 130 %

and he's twice come second

in the mayoral elections.

You've got to admire

his courage and energy,

but it's a bit

like Don Quixote tilting windmills.

FALK NEBIGER:

FRIEND FROM KIEV

That's a good image.

(VITALI SPEAKING)

It's really stressful,

both psychologically and physically,

but just thinking

about why I'm doing it

is a huge motivation

to carry on.

(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)

After fighting Samuel Peter

I was the No. 1 contender,

but I wasn't allowed

to fight the world champion.

They wouldn't let me.

I spent crazy sums of money

on lawyers in the US.

I sued the IBF and Don King.

I had to fight for my rights.

It finally worked,

and the preparations

went like a dream.

One of the most important parts

of our training is not

so much the boxing,

we spend so much time talking.

I have never trained

a fighter that had so much of a psychology,

it's like we're two hit men

and we have a victim.

And we're taking all kinds of

notes and putting down everything.

We understand how he walks,

how he thinks, what he eats,

we understand

everything about him.

(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)

My boxing became logical.

When I was younger, it was like:

"I'm in the ring,

I'll start boxing

"and hope to get

a good punch in."

I now fight tactically,

following a specific strategy.

Since 2005 it hasn't been

boxing but chess, pure and simple.

IBF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

CHRIS BYRD vs. WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO

April 22nd, 2006

Heavyweight Championship of the World.

I expect a clean fight.

Emanuel Steward

really changed him.

Made him stand up.

He uses height and reach now.

Not aggressive,

going for a knockout,

he systematically

breaks you down with his jab.

He stands on the back foot,

he's harder to reach.

He's using everything

to his advantage.

And so I'm

looking like, "Man!"

So you get in

the ring with him and you're like,

"This ain't the same guy that's going

for..." You know, being aggressive.

I'm the one

being aggressive. Which is so stupid.

I was so amped

up for the fight, I aborted my game plan.

But at the same time,

watching him,

I'm like, "Man.

Okay, this is harder.

"This is just

like the first fight. It's harder than I thought.

"Actually, it's worse."

And he's taking his time

just breaking me down.

EMANUEL:
We will not

let him get into his pattern and rhythm,

we will make him

fight the distance

and the pace that

we want him to fight.

And then, when it's time

for, as Wladimir says, to pull the trigger,

we will pull the trigger

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