KLITSCHKO BROTHERS SEEK NEW RUN AS CHAMPS

Whatever their legacy in the annals of boxing, it is
impossible to be unaware of the cosmopolitan brothers Wladimar and Vitali Klitschko in their drive to reclaim a piece of the vacant heavyweight championship.

The towering erudite imports from Kiev, Ukraine and
now living in Los Angeles did it once before. They both will get a second shot at the splintered crown before April expires on the calendar.

The Brothers Klitschko have always had an long obsession about being world champions at the same time, noting that today’s version of the Sweet Science enough titles to go around.

“The media is always asking us this question about whether we would ever fight each other if there was a world championship with much money at stake. Money would never be the issue, but there is no way we would fight each other. Our mother, Nadia, who was a school- teacher, would never let her sons fight each other. Our father, Wladimar, was an educator and Air Force colonel, and he had the same opinion as our mother. We rarely sparred when training, so there is no way, we’d ever fight each other,” said Vitali, the family spokesman.

Wladimar, turning 28 on Mar.25, and Vitali, 32, won WBO titles on different nights in the same year--which, ironically, involved Chris Byrd, now current IBF champ out of Flint, Mi

The younger Klitschko out-pointed the slick-boxing Byrd in 12 rounds Oct.14, 2000 in Cologne, Ger., and made five defenses before being upset on a second round TKO by Corrie Sanders Mar.8, 2003 in Hanover, Germany.

The senior brother made it a quick two-round TKO over Herbie Hide to take the WBO diadem June 27,1999 in London. After two riskings, Klitschko was on his way to what appeared to be an easy win over Byrd Apr.1, 2000 in Berlin when he injured his shoulder, finishing on his stool in the ninth round.

In a sense, ironic circumstances seem to be still
bird-dogging the Klitschko brothers whether these fluent linguists are speaking English, German, Russian or Ukrainian.

Wladimar first kicks off the heavyweight title action Apr.10 when he takes on Lamon Brewster of Los Angeles to fill the WBO heavyweight vacancy at the Mandalay Bay Events Center with HBO televising at 9:45 p.m. ET.
And if that isn’t enough, promoter Don King has a slick pick ‘em unification pairing before the heavyweights when undisputed welterweight champion Cory Spinks puts up his WBC/WBA/ IBF crowns against Zab Judah, the WBO junior welterweight ruler.

Vitali Klitschko doesn’t get his super inning until Apr.24 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles when he vies with Sanders for the WBC heavyweight crown that became available when Lennox Lewis retired earlier this year.

The older brother is confident Wladimar “won’t have any trouble regaining the WBO belt” but he views getting Sanders in the ring for the most prestigious heavyweight crown will take him to a new high in motivation.

“The media will probably make a big thing out of me avenging my brother. That’s fine but for me, a chance to do to Corrie what I would have done to Lennox if he would have given me that rematch I deserved.”

Losing a chance to fight Lewis when he was stopped by Sanders has altered the younger Klitschko’s attitude on preparation.

“Vitali and me have long dreamed about being world champions at the same time. We’re close again and I’m not going let any mistakes change the scene. I wasn’t as focused for Sanders as I’ve been for top guys like Byrd and there were distractions. I’m looking at Brewster like it is the most important fight of my career because it is,” said the engaging young man, who, like his brother, holds a doctorate degree in sports science from the University of Kiev.

Wladimar Klitschko can tell his admirers he did get in the ring with Lennox Lewis. It was the “reel” thing, if you note the spelling, and little more than a cameo role a few years ago at the MGM Grand where they doing a remake of “Ocean’s Eleven.” Minimum sparring for a round or so.

Vitali worked in his brother’s corner for the fight scene but when it came to the Real McCoy, the older fighter got the real shot at Lennox June 21, 2003 in Los Angeles and was leading on all judges’ scoring when a bad gash over Vitali’s left eye created a TKO stoppage.

“You have to beat the best to be the best. That’s why I wanted to fight Lewis or whoever held the belts. Until I lost the WBO title, fighting Lewis sounded like a strong possibility. It could have been me but, Vitali got the shot at Lewis first. People were surprised the way Vitali fought Lewis, but it didn’t surprise me.”

Since the Sanders detour, Klitschko’s last start was Dec.20 in Kiel, Ger., against American veteran Dannell Nicholson in a 10 rounder. Wladimar hardly broke a sweat, dropping his man in the first round and wrapping up the night on a fourth round TKO to improve his pro resume to 42-2, 37 KOs.

“It wasn’t as easy as it looked because Nicholson is one of those guys who likes to move a lot and a moving target isn’t always easy to tag but it was a good workout to start my preparation for Lamon Brewster.”

JERMAIN TAYLOR’S RISE MIDDLEWEIGHT THREAT

Bernard Hopkins, the all-everything middleweight champion from Philadelphia, has a mega-million dollar agenda that is pretty well set until next year.

However, if Hopkins is looking for work in 2005, promoter Lou DiBella, his long ago benefactor, may have the answer in a dynamite puncher by the name of Jermain Taylor, out of Little Rock, Ark.

Taylor, 25, was appearing before local admires Saturday night in Alitel Areba and he delivered everything they expected he TKO’d tough Alex Bunema at 15 seconds into the seventh round of an HBO-tele-vised main event.

Taylor, 159.5, improved his resume to 20-0, 16 KOs with a jack-hammer right hand that dropped Bunema
twice before referee Roy Gonzalez halted the rout.
It was total domination by Taylor, a bronze medalist
in the 2000 Australian Olympics, who set up the willing Latino with the jab and then broke him down with a punishing right to the head and body. Bunema was willing to exchange punches with his tormentor in the fifth and sixth rounds before being dropped twice in the seventh round.

Taylor, in a ring recap, told HBO’s Larry Merchant that “Bunema came to fight and I did my job. I knew he couldn’t take my jabs. The jab is a killer you can’t get around. I think I proved myself with this fight.”

Manny Steward, as an HBO analyst, added “I felt Taylor put his punches together pretty well. If Bernard Hopkins was watching this telecast, he had to be concerned with what he saw.”

BARRETT’S STEADY JAB SLOWS GUINN TO WALK

Veteran Monte Barrett helped his image in the wide-open heavyweight sweepstakes when he employed steady combinations to remove Dominick Guinn from the undefeated ranks on a 10-round split decision Saturday in the co-feature of the Main Events promoted show in the Alitel Arena at Little Rock, Ark.

Barrett, 218, New York, N.Y., disappointed the Arkansas assembly when he used an accurate jab to control the slower Guinn, 221, Hot Springs, Ark., in pitching a near-shutout. Barrett’s ledger rose to 30-3, 17 K0s while Guinn’s log dipped to 24-1,17 KOs.

It was a big improvement for Barrett although he didn’t score any knockdowns like he did in December when he lost a 10-round decision to undefeated Joe Mesi in Madison Square Garden.

In the judges’ official scoring, Sonny Ingram of Little Rock, raised some eyebrows when his tab was 96-94 for Guinn while Elmo Adolph of New Orleans, La., and Gale Van Hoy of Dallas, TX., both correctly scored it 97-93 for Barrett.

Guinn didn’t act like a fighter who showed up to win and could not find a jab to check Barrett‘s steady pressure from start to finish. Perhaps the only plus marks earned by Guinn was his rock jaw that sponged up the enemy’s jolting right hands.

(Jack Welsh is a syndicated columnist headquartered in Las Vegas and also a regular contributor to Ringsports.Com.)