Vitali Klitschko avenged his brother’s devastating loss to Corrie Sanders by stopping the South African in the eighth round on Saturday and capturing the World Boxing Council heavyweight title.
Klitschko also established himself as a legitimate heavyweight champ and the heir apparent to Englishman Lennox Lewis, who vacated the title two months ago when he announced his retirement.
”It was important to beat Corrie Sanders because if Sanders had beat me it would have been a big disaster for the Klitschko brothers,” Vitali said.
”My brother is a big part of this belt. We split our wins together and we split our losses.”
Referee Jon Schorle stepped between the two and stopped the fight at two minutes, 46 seconds of the eighth round of their scheduled 12-rounder, with Klitschko swarming a helpless Sanders.
Except for the first few rounds, Vitali never really looked in danger of losing to Sanders, who appeared overweight and ran out of gas quickly.
With the victory, Klitschko improved to 34-2, with 33 wins inside the distance and collected the WBC title vacated by Lewis.
Vitali was returning to the scene of a heartbreak loss to Lewis in the sixth round last June when the bout was stopped because of a nasty cut near Klitschko’s left eye with the Ukrainian leading on points.
Lewis, who was at ringside and cheering Sanders on, went to Klitschko’s dressing room to congratulate the 32-year-old Ukrainian after the fight.
Vitali, who suffered a swollen left eye against Sanders, said he tried to convince Lewis to come out of retirement.
”He promised me a rematch after our fight. I have his title now, and I told him I hope we can have a second fight.”
If he can’t get another fight with Lewis, Vitali said he wants to fight Mike Tyson. Regardless, he plans to take some time off before deciding who to fight next.
”I need a break for a couple of months,” he said.
Vitali dominated the Sanders fight from the third round on, bloodying Sanders’s nose and opening up cuts near his left eye and ear.
Vitali worked his jab effectively and despite talk of Sanders’s speed, he continually beat Sanders to the punch.
”I take my dream and my goal now,” Vitali said. ”I have worked so long and so many years to get a world championship.”
Sanders, who dropped to 39-3, with 29 knockouts, got the better of Klitschko in the first round and appeared to knock Vitali down with a left but Schorle ruled it a slip.
The 38-year-old Sanders left Staples Centre without talking to reporters and went straight to the hospital to receive stitches for the cut near his eye and treatment for a damaged left ear.
His manager, Vernon Smith, defended Sanders’s training regime, saying he showed a lot of heart by standing in there and taking as much punishment as he did.
”He has guts and courage, and if his ranking is high enough he will come back for a couple more fights,” Smith said.
This was Sanders’s first fight since knocking out Wladimir on March 6 2003 in Hannover, Germany. Sanders floored Wladimir four times before the bout was stopped.
But he couldn’t repeat his success against the older, taller Vitali, who has the sturdier chin.
Wladimir, who was considered by many the better boxer of the two siblings, suffered another stunning defeat earlier this month to journeyman Lamon Brewster.
Despite that loss, Vitali hasn’t given up on the brothers’ dream of being co-heavyweight champions.
”I hope Wladimir takes a chance to fight for the world championship and wins a title,” said Vitali. — Sapa-AFP