Vitali Klitschko vs. Corrie Sanders: “Revenge of the Brother”

24.04.04 – By Marc Abrams – The post-Lewis era of heavyweights were supposed to be dominated by Klitscko, Wladimer that is. But after his 2nd devastating knockout loss in 13 months, big brother Vitaly has become the favorite to capture both the WBC and recognized champ with a victory over Corrie Sanders in Los Angeles. For Vitali, this fight will mean more than just a title fight. Klitschko (33-2, 32KOs) will also be trying to avenge his younger brother’s (Wladimir) devastating knockout defeat to Sanders (39-2, 29KOs), who had Vladimir flying around the ring like a bird everytime he was hit with one of Sander’s devastating straight lefts. On Saturday night Klitschko fights Corrie Sanders with a chance to prove something else, that he can be a legitimate heavyweight champion.

Klitscko, the 6’7″ Ukrainian, already may be the peoples champ due to his gusty 6 round TKO loss to then world champ Lennoz Lewis. In that fight, Klitschko was ahead on all 3 judges scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Klitschko was bleeding very heavily all over his face due mostly in part to a right hand that scraped the face of the then challenger. He won the WBO title with a 2nd round KO over Herbie Hide in June, 1999. He defended his title 2 times with knockout victories over Ed Mahone and Obed Sullivan. Klistchko was scheduled to defend the title on April fools day of 2000 against Razor Rudduck. The joke was on Klitschko as Rudduck pulled out and in came the slick southpaw Chris Byrd. The problem in that fight wasn’t Byrd per say, but a torn Rotator Cuff injury after the 9th round, which occurred with Vitaly ahead comfortably on all cards. According to Vitali, the pain was just too great and he had to quit because he was afraid of hurting himself permanently. This, of course, led to alot of observers questioning what Vitali had inside as opposed to all of his physical gifts. 7 months later Vitali was backin the ring, and that began a five fight win streak over such trial horses as Orlin Norris (KO 1), Ross Purity (TKO 11), Vaughn Bean (TKO 11) and Larry Donald (TKO 10). Since the Lewis fight, Vitali’s only action was a 2nd round destruction over an extremely overweight Kirk Johnson. He brings a record of 33-2 (32) and is 3-2(3) in world championship fights.

The 38 year old Sanders from Pretoria, South Africa has been around and brings a record 39-2(29). This is his 1dt fight in 13 months, ironically a 2 round blow out over Kitschko*s brother Wladimier, to win the WBO title. Sanders has since been stripped(Lamon Brewster won that belt with his own KO over Wladimer Klitschko) for failing to fight his mandatory defense. Sanders has been in with some name fighters such as Bert Cooper(TKO 3); former cruiserweight king Carlos DeLeon(TKO 1); Purity (UD); Bobby Czyz( TKO 2); Al Cole ( TKO 1). The only 2 blemishes on his record was a shocking 2nd round in May, 1994 to Nate Tubbs, and a 7th round TKO loss to former world champ Hasim Rahman in a fight where sanders floored Rahman early in the fight only to be knocked out himself.

I see some obvious factors on a prediction for this fight. Even though it was a loss, the fight with Lewis shook off all of the deamons of the Byrd fight. Since then, Vitali has looked extremely confident against the obese Kirk Johnson, while Corrie Sanders, who already has one foot in the retirement door, has been totally inactive for the past 13 months. At age 39 that’s not a good thing, as skills can erode very quickly at this much of an advanced age. I see Klitschko jumping on Sanders early, much like he did against Johnson and trying to test Sander’s suspect chin. However,I would not be surprised to see Sanders startle Klitschko with some hard power shots early on. In the end, though, Klitschko should take the momentum he has built up in has previous fights and wear down Sanders before brutally knocking him out in the middle rounds.