Klitschko, Williams Come Together Via Conference Call
by Coyote Duran
10/26 - Today, the boxing press was invited to take part in a national conference call hosted by Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions and Mark Taffet of HBO Pay-Per-View spotlighting the upcoming World Heavyweight Championship match on December 11th between The Ring Magazine World/WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko and The Ring Magazine #9/WBC #7 contender Danny Williams.
Williams, a former British and Commonwealth champion, is best known for his crushing win over the faded, former world champion, Mike Tyson, this past summer. This win propelled Williams to the position he holds now: Challenger to the greatest prize in boxing.
Klitschko, who most wrote off as a quitter after his WBO Heavyweight title loss to Chris Byrd in 2000, has become a sensation in America due to his gutsy performance against former linear boss, Lennox Lewis in June of 2003.
Since then, with wins over Kirk Johnson and Corrie Sanders, Klitschko has surpassed the lofty expectations levied upon his younger brother and became a breath of fresh air to a suffocating division.
Questions ran the usual gamut of "How are you preparing?" and "Are you looking past your opponent?" type fare. What was more interesting was the calm respect both men gave each other throughout the interrogative variety. Both competitors were thoughtful and ducked no questions, even when more sensitive queries were thrown into the fray such as Williams' pre-fight nervousness and thoughts on whether or not Vitali still sees his brother possibly sharing the top of the mountain with him someday.
Klitschko did reiterate that with Williams' 4th round drubbing of Tyson, Vitali's dream of one day taking on the one-time "Baddest Man on the Planet" was taken from him. Klitschko expounded that this was the impetus of the upcoming defense. Williams would go on to comment about even employing the services of a sports psychologist, in which the affable Brit would jokingly reveal that it "was a waste of my money."
In between questions, Taffet would be addressed about this being the first pay-per-view opportunity for his new heavyweight sensation, emoting that when Klitschko walked away from the Staples Center in Los Angeles after his loss to Lennox Lewis in June 2003, he was a "man of the world."
During the call, Klitschko would refer to that win for Lewis as "a fight that the doctor helped him win." Klitschko doesn't strike me as a bitter man in the least, but I couldn't help but detect a deep-seated resentment for a just, well-executed decision.
In the end, Vitali arose to fight another day.
And as indicated by his new status as "King of the Mountain", Vitali Klitschko has and will once more fight again, this time defending the heavyweight championship of the world. If he can get past Danny Williams on December 11 at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, the future is rife with opportunity.
Possible unification bouts with IBF titleholder Chris Byrd, WBA boss John Ruiz and WBO kingpin Lamon Brewster could very well be on the horizon, as briefly indicated in the call, but Vitali Klitschko isn't making any plans just yet. On December 11, Klitschko will enter the ring as The Man. If he fights like The Hungry Challenger he has been wont to do, then he'll truly be The Man To Beat at heavyweight.
Coyote Duran would like to thank Luke Callahan [editor blushes] for his assistance in Coyote's participation as well as much thanks to Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions, Bernd Boente, manager of the Klitschko brothers and Mark Taffet of HBO Pay-Per-View.
Full conference call quotes can be found, here.
Agree or disagree? Comments can be sent to Coyote Duran at theboxingguy@yahoo.com
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