Klitschko Brothers: Important Fights in Near Future

06.11 - A young man many are calling the future of the heavyweight division, World Boxing Organization (WBO) Champion Wladimir “Steelhammer” Klitschko begins sparring today in Hamburg, Germany, for his eagerly anticipated Dec. 7 mandatory title defense against WBO No. 1 contender Jameel “Big Time” McCline on HBO at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Serious preparations, meantime, continue at Hamburg’s Universum Gym for Klitschko’s older brother, Vitali. Nicknamed “Dr. Iron Fist,” the former WBO heavyweight titleholder, who currently is ranked No. 1 in the World Boxing Council (WBC), No. 2 in the WBO, No. 3 in the World Boxing Association (WBA) and No. 6 in the International Boxing Federation (IBF), defends his WBA International title against WBA No. 10 contender Larry “The Legend” Donald (39-2-2, 23 KOs) Nov. 23 in Dortmund, Germany.

“All fights are important, but in many ways these are the most important of our careers,” said Wladimir, who will be making the fifth defense of the title he won when he knocked down twice and easily outpointed Chris Byrd across 12 rounds on Oct. 14, 2000, in Cologne, Germany. “I am looking forward very much to fighting again in America on HBO, but I know Jameel McCline (28-2-3, 16 KOs) is a very good, determined opponent.’’

The younger Klitschko (39-1, 36 KOs) has been working out at the Universum Gym for four weeks, but has yet to spar. Vitali (31-1, 30 KOs) has been training – and sparring -- for his scheduled 12-round bout with Donald at Universum Gym for the past five weeks.

“I have been using four different sparring partners for this fight,” Vitali said (no, the brothers do not spar with each other). Because of his speed, experience, movement and size, Donald presents me with a real challenge. I am very confident but I also know what is at stake and that if I win my next fight will be against Lennox Lewis. People do not understand and all they want to do is talk about Lewis. They do not understand that I have to focus totally on Donald. It is all about winning this fight, and winning convincingly. Then I can talk about Lewis after.’’

The four sparring partners who are working with both brothers are lanky 6-foot-7 Nigerian Abiodun Sunday, the speedy and elusive Fernely Feliz from the Dominican Republic, giant American Corey Sanders (nicknamed “T-Rex”) and his countryman Thomas Williams who after finishing his job as sparring partner will fight former European champ Luan Krasniqi on the undercard in Dortmund.

As always, the 6-foot-7 Wladimir will work his 6-foot-8 brother’s corner on Nov. 23. The next day, the personable brothers, who both have PhDs in Sport Science, and are authors, UNESCO ambassadors and prolific chess players, are scheduled to depart their adopted homeland of Germany and fly to the United States.

“My brother and I are both in an excellent spots,” Wladimir said. “We control our destiny. Now it is up to us. If we continue to win, we can achieve our dream of both being heavyweight champions of the world at the same time.’’