Sanders to claim Lewis’s title

Corrie Sanders has set his sights on claiming the most prestigious heavyweight world title of them all. The former World Boxing Union and World Boxing Organisation heavyweight king has been in negotiations in London this week to set the platform for him to fight for the World Boxing Council’s version of the crown, currently held by Lennox Lewis.

Sanders, who demolished the heir-apparent to Lewis’s throne, Wladimir Klitschko, in March to win the WBO world title, relinquished the crown last week. This was shortly after he attended the WBC convention in Moscow, where he appealed to the WBC board of governors to accept him as a legitimate challenger for their title.

In return for giving up his WBO belt, Sanders was installed as the number two contender in the WBC ranks. ‘It’s not official yet,” says Sanders, ‘but Lewis is going to retire and [Vitali] Klitschko’s fight against Kirk Johnson and my next fight will be eliminators for the vacant world title.”

The reasoning behind Sanders giving up one world title to pursue

another is twofold. In accordance with the contract he signed in order to get the fight for the WBO crown, he would be indebted to Klitschko’s promoters, Universum, for his first two defences. They would determine his opponents and, more importantly, his purses.

‘They were offering me a lot less money than I should be getting,” says Sanders. Given the WBC’s stature as the leading sanctioning body in the world, it also carries more lucrative purses than the less-respected titles.

Another key element in determining purse size is being matched against big-name fighters. With Universum pulling the strings, Sanders was unable to secure fights against the best in the heavyweight division. Given these factors the WBO title

became more of a hindrance than a help to Sanders’s aspirations and the WBC became more attractive.

There were negotiations in the pipeline for him to face another WBC top 10 contender in Fres Oquendo in November at Carnival City, but Sanders confirms that fight is no longer on the cards. ‘I’ll be fighting in December now,” says Sanders, ‘but my opponent is still to be named.”

On the prospect of fighting Lewis himself, ‘I can’t see that happening,” says Sanders. ‘We have the same management team now and Lewis is ready to hang up his gloves.

‘I would have loved to have fought him, but he feels that he has nothing left to prove and it’s time to move on.”

Following their fight in June, the man fight-fans most want to see in the ring with Lewis is Vitali Klitschko. Their bout was stopped after six rounds because of cuts around

Klitschko’s eyes and was awarded to Lewis. At the time of stoppage the Ukranian-born fighter was ahead on all the scorecards and many felt he was robbed.

While that bout is sure to be debated for many years to come, what became clear is that Lewis is no longer the skilled fighter he once was. To continue his career at this stage would be to court disaster and retirement is possibly the best decision he could make. Given that he also has a vested interest in Sanders, through his promotional group, Lewis could continue his battle with Klitschko without actually having to trade blows with him.

In the ring Wladimir, who is regarded as a better boxer than Vitali, confronted Sanders.

‘He said the WBO title belonged to the Klitschko family,” says Sanders. ‘He tried to get clever, so I gave him a klap.”

Ironically if Sanders and the older Klitschko are to meet in the ring they will not be contesting the WBO title but the more prestigious WBC crown. ‘I’ll be fighting the winner of the Klitschko-Johnson fight,” says Sanders. ‘After that I’ll have two or three more fights and call it a day.”