Volodymyr Klychko Dispels Myth about Weakness of Great White Hopes
The Kyiv City Administration has hosted a press conference of the WBO heavyweight world champion, Volodymyr Klychko, who recently inflicted a crushing defeat on the American Chris Byrd.
Answering the questions of journalists, Volodymyr put emphasis on him “having brought the belt back into the family.” It is an open secret that after the unfortunate serious injury caused defeat of older brother, Vitaly, by the same Byrd, many American promoters and journalists wrote off the white Ukrainian giants who allegedly had not kept up with the pace they set themselves in the multi-round bouts against black boxers.
Volodymyr has dispelled this myth by winning an undeniable victory after which he said, “We are world champions, not weaklings, as the Americans say, and I love my brother.” Even the neck and neck sixth and seventh rounds were only a prelude, Volodymyr thinks, to the concluding victorious phase of the bout.
Speaking of the oncoming Lennox Lewis vs. David Tua fight, Volodymyr said he expected Lewis to win, and then it will become possible to fight against him or Mike Tyson, for by all accounts Tyson, Lewis, and Evander Holyfield are the world’s strongest boxers. “I would like this to happen, but I can’t possibly conduct a fight against one of them at the Republican Stadium without the support of city Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko.” Answering the question whether Volodymyr will surrender his WBO belt in order to contest a different-version title, he said the promoter and coaches will be mapping out the tactics of further decisions in the next two weeks.
“Chris Byrd’s mother has a heart of steel” is how Volodymyr assessed the situation near the ring, where Byrd’s father (coach), mother, and brother stood. It is the latter two who managed to dissuade the father from throwing the towel in the eleventh round. “What is more, I strongly object to female boxing. We’ve got very warm relationships in our family, and I’ve discovered a new feature in myself: I am likely to be a good uncle. After each fight I phone Mother, and when I come back home I always give her flowers.”
Volodymyr wished he had not conducted the fight against Byrd under the slogan of revenge for his brother. “There are two sides to this bout: this was a bout for the world champion’s title and also one against the athlete to whom Vitaly gave up the title because of the injury rather than lost the match to.” You can only achieve a positive result, Volodymyr said, when “the mechanism, the overall chain, and the creative threads of the whole team are at work.” Over three and a half years, Volodymyr has fought 36 fights, and from now on he as WBO champion will only hold up to three bouts a year. The latest in spite of all the submerged reefs of emotion, brought satisfaction to Volodymyr and all his fans, first of all, because he had nicely done all twelve rounds. As to Vitaly, he will be contesting the title of European champion as soon as November 25 in match to be broadcast live on UT-1 against strong German boxer Tim Hoffmann.
The press conference organizer, Kyiv Mayor Oleksandr Omelchenko, a staunch supporter and friend of the Klychko brothers, decorated Volodymyr with the Sign of Honor Eighth Degree and expressed the hope he would also with pleasure award the same order, Ninth Degree, to Vitaly.
