(FILM PROJECTOR WHIRRING)
KIEV
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
- Are we rolling?
- Yes.
(HORNS HONKING IN DISTANCE)
Wait a minute. Mom!
Close the window!
(WINDOW CLOSES)
I was basically
a tall boy,
but I was skinny.
Let's stop.
That's not right.
I need to take a break.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
The first professional fight I
saw was a heavyweight match.
For the first time in my life,
I heard what it sounds like
when a gloved fist
strikes a human head.
The sound was so unpleasant.
I thought, "This is brutal."
I was extremely nervous
before my first fight.
I was terrified of
getting into the ring.
My legs felt weak.
I sensed the crowd.
I knew the danger
and was very scared.
It's different in the crowd-
not at the centre of the action.
It all looks
very different from the inside.
(MATCH PLAYING ON TV)
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
Our opponents don't know
about our secret weapon.
Even with only one person in the
ring, they're fighting two people,
and together we
are twice as strong.
Your brother gives
you extra strength
and he gives you
extra strength.
No one can stop you.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
Fighting is in Vitali's blood.
He was born a fighter,
I became one.
As a fighter,
or a second,
you have so much adrenalin
that you develop
a kind of tunnel vision
and you ignore
everything around you.
You think only
about your strategy.
he throws wide punches,
so you stay all the way back
or you go all the way to his side.
If you go in short
and punch short punches,
he won't be able to hit you
because he has to have swinging room.
But you can't go
halfway inside,
and that's when
you're getting hit.
So you just went
out and just started
going right, real short,
with short punches,
and the guy couldn't hit,
no coordination that close.
Boom! And that was over.
I want you to keep
all your punches up
and in front
of the groin, no low roll,
no rabbit punches,
no kidney punches.
In the event that
you knock your opponent to the ground
and from all the yelling and
excitement, and then you pop him again,
that could be
a two-point deduction.
If you're in there tight,
and there's no action,
I'm gonna give
the command "Break! Stop!"
And at that time,
I want you to protect yourself
and take
a clean step back.
(INDISTINCT TALKING)
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
It's very dangerous.
A single punch
can break your nose or take out your eye.
You can even be killed.
If you're afraid
of being injured or damaging your health,
if you're not ready
to give your all,
then you'll
never be a success.
(INAUDIBLE)
(NADESHDA KLITSCHKO
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I worry when my
children are boxing.
It frightens me.
It's their life and
they have my blessing,
but during their fights
I always go out for a walk.
I take my mobile with me,
and wait for the call.
(CROWD CHEERING)
(BELL TOLLING LOUDLY)
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
Twelve rounds of boxing
for the Heavyweight
Championship of the world.
And now it's time
for the champions.
The WBC Heavyweight
Champion of the World,
Dr. Eisenfaust,
Vitali Klitschko.
Wladimir Klitschko!
Let's get ready to rumble!
CHRIS BYRD:
It's a weird thing.
Vitali keeps you off
balance the whole time.
That's why it
makes him harder.
Punching-wise,
it goes to Wladimir.
CHRIS BYRD - FORMER HEAVYWEIGH CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
I mean, dude,
he hits so hard!
I mean, not taking nothing away from
Vitali, but I think he hits harder.
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
(SHOUTING)
LAMON BREWSTER:
The whole battle of becoming successful
is outside of the ring.
Can you go to sleep
without eating?
Can you get up and go run?
Can you not have sex with your lady?
LAMON BREWSTER - FORMER
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
Can you just be
on time to the gym
and dedicate yourself
every single day?
So what,
you got a sore muscle.
So what,
your nose may be broke.
You gotta keep pushing
and keep pushing.
That is what a real
champion is about.
Boxing separates
the men from the boys.
So, you know,
this is definitely a man's sport,
and he's right,
you can't play.
LENNOX LEWIS - FORMER HEAVYWEIGH CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
You know, boxing is the only
sport that keeps you honest.
So if you're in shape,
it shows.
If you're not in shape,
it'll show.
If you're scared,
it'll show.
You know,
boxing is a sport that will bring out
all the things
that you're doing wrong.
So if you been
eating a lot of cake that whole week
and then step into
the boxing ring, it'll show.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Mom?
Everything's okay.
He's doing fine.
A small cut under his eye,
but nothing serious.
How are you?
(NADESHDA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
He rang me and
asked how I was.
I said I was fine
and we chatted. Then he rang me again.
NADESHDA KLITSCHKO
I asked if he'd
forgotten something.
And he said,
"To tell you I love you."
That's what he's like.
(INDISTINCT)
(WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, SR
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Vitali and I were at
the airport one day.
A man and his son
were standing next to us.
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, SR
When the boy saw
Vitali he asked,
"Is that the real
Vitali Klitschko?
"Can I touch him?"
It was very special for him.
I could see the happiness
in the boy's eyes.
Many people immediately
feel very fond of my sons.
Wladimir and Vitali
have a very
unusual situation from the family viewpoint.
Your two sons to be
heavyweight champions of the world
which is, like,
unbelievable,
it's like a one-in-20-million
chance of that happening.
EMANUEL STEWARD
COACH OF WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
And never ever have attended,
or intend or plan to attend one of the fights.
That, to begin with,
is very unusual.
And then, on the other side,
extremely, extremely close.
You know, you think back
and realise how they grew up.
I never hear
Wladimir or Vitali talk about other relatives.
It seems like the relatives,
the whole family for the most part,
is the mother and the father
and Vitali and Wladimir.
So, that's four.
(VITALI SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I was born in Central Asia
in the summer of 1971,
but I am Ukrainian.
I come from a military family,
stationed in different places
all over the Soviet Union.
KAZAKHSTAN - ZHANGIZTOBE
NEAR THE CHINESE BORDER
(NADESHDA SPEAKING)
I was a working mother.
Vitali was six years old
and Vovchik
was one year old.
Wladimir's pet name
is Vovchik.
Vitali had to take
care of Wladimir.
I had flexible working hours
so I'd go home to make them lunch
and then I'd go back to work
and leave them alone together.
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
It was a big responsibility.
I had to take
my little brother with me wherever I went
and I still have to
look after him today.
Nowadays, when I give
my little brother a few tips,
and he says,
"Stop fussing. I know that, Vitali!"
I tell him,
"When I was little,
"our parents gave me the job
of looking after you.
"They haven't
told me to stop yet."
So I'm still doing it today.
(NATALIYA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I know that lots of people
can barely tell
the brothers apart.
Many people
think they're twins,
NATALIYA KLITSCHKO
WIFE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO
but really
they're very different.
When Vitali gets
something into his head,
he'll follow it through.
Wladimir has his
own goals, too,
but he's a lot more
cautious and diplomatic.
(SPEAKS GERMAN)
Crazy.
(WHISTLE BLOWS)
Due to my father's job
we moved around a lot
from one place to the next.
So I attended a lot
of different schools.
(WLADIMIR, SR SPEAKING)
At each new garrison school
that Vitali went to,
he would get teased
and picked on.
All I could do was
to teach my eldest son
how to stand up for himself.
I drummed it into him
that if he was going to fight,
then he had to win.
Losing was not an option.
(NADESHDA SPEAKING)
We never dreamed that one day
our children would be
professional boxers.
One day, a mother
came to see us at home.
Her son had a broken nose.
I asked how it had happened,
but he just stood there in silence.
So I told Vitali
to apologise.
When he said
that he wouldn't, I asked him why,
and he said,
"He deserved it!
"He threw my hat in a puddle
after I'd warned him not to.
"When he did it again,
I punched him."
UKRAINE - KIEV
FORMER MILITARY AIRBASE - ZHULYANY
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
My father was
transferred here to Kiev
from Prague in
the former Czechoslovakia.
Just for a couple of weeks.
Then we were supposed
to get a flat in the city.
That couple of weeks
turned into exactly two years.
For those two years,
we lived in this room.
Five of us:
my grandmother, mother,
father and brother.
My uncle, too, sometimes.
We had that room,
and a kitchen that was here.
There was a dividing wall,
which isn't there any more.
So this was the kitchen.
No shower and no toilet.
The toilet was outside.
It was in this
corridor that Vitali said,
"Wladimir, put the gloves on!
Let's do some boxing."
I was just 10
or 11 years old.
I was standing just here.
I remember like it was yesterday.
Vitali was standing opposite
and he punched me.
I didn't like that at all.
It made me scared of boxing.
(WLADIMIR, SR
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I often took them shooting
at the military base.
I showed them how
to handle a weapon,
how to load a pistol,
aim properly
and work the trigger.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
Of course,
Vitali was the one
who was always
getting into trouble.
He messed around
with lots of things.
One time,
on a military base,
we found some grenades
and live ammunition.
We threw them into a fire.
It made a lot of noise.
It was fun.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
One time we found
an anti-tank mine.
It was a huge disc.
I took it home with me
and the only place I
could find to hide it
was under my father's bed.
I went to bed
and then I heard
my father shouting.
He came to me and
grabbed me by the ear.
He said, "What is that?"
I said, "It's a mine."
"Did you bring it in here?"
I said, "Yes."
Our parents were strict,
so he ended up paying for that
with a belt on his bottom.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Comrade Colonel!
Reporting for duty
in the clean-up operation at Chernobyl.
(WLADIMIR, SR SPEAKING)
The first report just said
that something
bad had happened.
The alarm was raised.
I was the leader
of an air force unit
that was immediately relocated
to the scene of the incident.
CHERNOBYL
April 1986
Directly after the explosion,
several workers were sent
to the scene of the accident.
Using just their bare hands,
they had to clear
the radioactive debris.
(DETECTOR CRACKLING)
Come on, we're going.
You, too, get out of here!
(WLADIMIR, SR SPEAKING)
We dropped lead
onto the reactor
until it was
completely covered.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
They flew day and night.
Their flight path was
exactly 100 metres from here,
so we heard them
day and night.
But after a while you
stopped hearing them,
because you'd got
so used to the sound.
(WLADIMIR, SR
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
From the very beginning,
the government tried
to cover up the truth
and play down the situation.
We were given the impression
that it was all under control.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
The vehicles and helicopters
then came back here
and first had to
be washed down.
All of the radioactive water
flowed into huge pools
and I played in those pools
with my paper boats.
(WLADIMIR, SR
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
It was a huge tragedy.
Children were evacuated
as a first priority.
We sent Wladimir
to a holiday camp on the Sea ofAzov.
Those who were
able to leave Kiev
took the opportunity to do so,
but if you're a soldier
you have to fulfil your duties.
Many of my comrades
received fatal
doses of radiation.
They're no longer alive.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Our father spent
a lot of time at Chernobyl
and Chernobyl got him,
too, in the end.
The doctors said,
"It's the result of Chernobyl.
"Cancer."
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
This is our gallery
with all our photos.
Chuck Norris came
to visit us once.
Western martial arts were
banned for a long time in the Soviet Union.
You could be prosecuted
for practising them.
We were even banned from
watching western martial arts films
but as everyone knows,
ANDREJ SCHISTOW
KICKBOXING COACH
forbidden fruits
taste the sweetest.
(GRUNTING AND YELLING)
(VITALI SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
We were crazy
about that sport.
We went to karate lessons
and our parents
made us kimonos out of some white cloth.
We were always
screaming "Kiai!"
and running around everywhere.
We got wooden boards
and tried to smash them.
They had posters
of western stars in their rooms,
like Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Chuck Norris.
All of their idols
were wonderfully athletic
and my children wanted
to be exactly like them.
Their room was plastered
with photos and posters.
(ANDREJ SPEAKING)
One day some boys turned up
to one of my illegal
training sessions.
As I was showing
them the basics, one boy wasn't following me.
He was
completely uncoordinated in his movements.
If you told him to go left,
he would go right.
He always did the opposite
of what he was told.
That was the first time
I met Vitali Klitschko.
THE KICKBOXING BAN
IN THE SOVIET UNION IS ABOLISHED IN 1989
(CROWD CHEERING)
He became Ukrainian
heavyweight champion
and then champion
of the Soviet Union.
Then we were invited
to a contest in America.
The USA versus
the Soviet team.
FLORIDA
WEST PALM BEACH
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
I was brainwashed
when I was growing up.
Every morning at school
we had to write
about all the bad
things in America.
America was our enemy.
America meant capitalism,
where people treated
others like slaves.
We'd been fed all that
since kindergarten.
It was like
a trip to the moon.
We had heard
a lot about Coca-Cola
and when I tasted it
for the first time,
I felt I could
drink a whole bucket!
I was completely knocked out.
We could spend all day
in shopping malls
with our mouths hanging open,
looking around us.
Of course,
we didn't have any money.
We just wanted to
take in all the smells
and be able to touch things.
How can there be
That's madness.
There's only one
type of cheese. It's called cheese.
But they had 100
different types. I couldn't understand it.
Why did they
need so many shoes?
One pair is enough.
Okay, maybe two pairs,
one for sport.
When I got back,
I said to my father,
who was a Communist,
"Dad, they've been telling us
complete nonsense every day!
"It's such a lovely country.
The people are so friendly!"
I remember him saying,
"No, they just
showed you the good side.
"They'll use that as
propaganda. America is a dreadful place."
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
My parents like living
here in Florida in winter
because it's cold
in the Ukraine.
I understand what my
father went through.
Today he has
a different view of the world.
He comes to Florida
for his holidays.
He doesn't just
like the weather
but also the people
and the country itself.
Look at the father.
Here's a military man
who believes in discipline
and especially he's
a ranking official,
and he had to have been
a very disciplined man
in order to move
to that position,
and so that's why
Wladimir and Vitali are very proud.
You never saw them
like some of the younger guys
with their hair
falling down,
and the kids
with all the excessive earrings and things.
In fact, you could easily
see Wladimir and Vitali
in the military,
police force
or either in a top
corporate position,
that's just the way
they have been raised.
KIEV
CSKA - ARMY SPORTS CLUB
(WLADIMIR ZOLOTAREW
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Vitali came from
the world of kickboxing.
He was athletic
but only weighed 90 kilograms.
I soon realised it would
be difficult for Vitali
in the world of real boxing.
WLADIMIR ZOLOTAREW -
BOXING COACH, ARMY SPORTS CLUB - KIEV
He couldn't even do a lap
without getting a stitch.
Vitali, don't go so fast.
Shut up!
(ZOLOTAREW SPEAKING)
Vitali laughs and says
I used to torture him.
In a way,
that's perfectly true.
But the result is pretty good.
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
Vadim, my trainer,
made me a lot stronger.
It was really tough.
I wanted to stop
because I couldn't go on.
I didn't want to
go to training,
I was sick of all the strain.
My body was saying, "No,"
and my brain was saying,
"You don't need this."
But I carried on anyway.
It was really tough.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
At some point Vitali asked
if he could bring his
little brother along.
"Of course you can," I said.
From then on,
they always came together.
How can you compare
Vitali and Wladimir?
Vitali is made of stone
and Wladimir is made of clay.
When I taught
Vitali something new,
it would take a while
for him to perfect the move.
Carving stone takes time.
Wladimir was easier to mould,
but he would
weather more quickly.
They are two distinct fighters
and needed
different approaches.
(FALK NEBIGER SPEAKING GERMAN)
I first met them
in a disco in 1993.
An American place
in downtown Kiev.
FALK NEBIGER
FRIEND FROM KIEV
The boys drove up in a Lada,
a car that was all the rage.
The name of the colour
was Wet Asphalt.
It was the coolest
car on the market.
They sat there in
their tracksuits and then came into the disco.
It was the place to be
in the Ukraine at that time.
We called them The Panthers
because they moved
through the disco just like panthers,
with all the girls saying,
"Hey, it's the Klitschkos!"
They were less well known then
but were very recognisable
as brothers - and as big guys
who moved like panthers.
I don't think they danced
but they played pool
and they threw
the right glances in the right directions.
A lot of people had
left Kiev at that time.
After the collapse
of the Soviet Union
many educated people,
businessmen and so on
saw no future for
themselves here.
So they left Kiev and
emigrated somewhere.
It was a difficult
time in the Ukraine.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
There were a lot of problems.
The economy had failed,
the Soviet system
had collapsed
with no replacement
at the time.
There were no laws,
no rules, nothing at all.
(WLADIMIR, SR
SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Social problems were rife.
Many professional
athletes turned to crime.
Gangs of thugs
would mug people
in the street.
They were real gangsters.
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
Because I was a strong boy,
I often used to hear things like:
"Hey,
you've got what it takes.
"You don't need
to go to school. We can use you!"
Those are the kind of
offers I used to get.
But it's not all
about easy money.
You need to know
exactly what you want out of life.
(CLUCKING)
GERMANY
FLENSBURG BOXING CLUB
The centre of
the ring was here.
The ring started
at this green line
and went to here.
The ring was
five metres square.
A team of between
in case someone drops out.
Every match is about winning
so you can't afford losers.
NORBERT ZEWUHN - FORMER MANAGER
FLENSBURG BOXING CLUB, GERMANY
We went to the World
Amateur Championship in Berlin
to see who was available.
BERLIN
We really liked
Vitali Klitschko from the Ukraine
and asked him to fight for us
in the German Boxing League
starting in November.
He agreed but
before the season began,
he fought in Bangkok
at the Military Championships
and received a ban.
We found out three weeks
before the season opened.
We'd already paid
all the expenses
and Vitali had been to
visit us in Flensburg.
His name was in our programmes,
but he wasn't able to come.
We were in a very tight spot.
We put a telephone call
through to the Ukraine.
They told us something
that we could hardly believe.
They said, "No need to panic.
"We've got a guy
who looks like him and he's just as good."
We had no alternative
so we went to the airport
and someone came out
who looked just
like Vitali Klitschko,
the one we'd
actually signed up.
How could there be two people
who look so alike?
We didn't know
he had a brother.
They didn't say
they'd be sending his brother,
just that they had someone
who looked like him.
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)
A new dimension
to league boxing in Flensburg!
The undisputed star
is from the Ukraine,
the 19-year-old
Wladimir Klitschko.
The match was
over within a minute.
Wladimir Klitschko
has lost only 10 of his 121 matches to date.
An Olympic hope
for the Ukraine!
We kept an eye on
the Olympic Games
because we'd already
signed him up for another season.
He won the gold medal,
which was fantastic.
We were proud to have
a heavyweight Olympic champion
on the Flensburg team.
We were already thinking
about building a new hall
because instead
of 1 ,200 spectators
we were now
expecting more like 4,000.
Then the news came
that both the Klitschko brothers
were turning professional.
So that was the end of that.
When Wladimir won
the gold medal at the Olympics
the man next to me said,
"Congratulations!
"Here, take my mobile.
"Don King wants
to talk to you."
Congratulations on your brother's win.
I will be happy to see
you and your brother.
You're welcome to my house.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
I was very surprised
to be suddenly talking to Don King.
Don King!
The man who promoted
Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
Talking to me!
I was in shock.
I spoke to Wladimir
about it later
and we decided to fly over
and visit Don King.
you got to have a good lawyer, you do.
LAMON BREWSTER - FORMER
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
I've seen it so many times.
I had a friend who signed with a promoter.
I won't say his name,
but we all know him very well,
he was a good fighter,
and I said, "Well,
why did you sign with him without a lawyer?"
He said,
"Because he put more money in front of me
"than I have ever
seen at one time."
So he told me that
when he set the money on the table,
he said,
"Look, I'm offering you this now, if you...
"You have to sign right now,
because I won't offer it to you later."
So he said he signed,
but he signed his life away.
Welcome. Welcome.
How are you? How are you?
Great to see you guys.
Wow! Welcome.
- Okay, so that's Wladimir and Vitali.
- Wladimir. Vitali.
Hi, guys.
I follow all your career.
You are the best one.
You sign this contract.
The golden mounts come to you.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
How would we get
these mountains of gold?
I didn't understand.
He told us just to sign.
And I thought to myself, "No."
I said, "Wladimir,
we don't have to sign anything."
to make money here, all over the world.
Today here,
tomorrow the world.
We're one big happy family.
Piano. Special for you.
I play some special song.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
He sat down and
started playing like a professional.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
We were impressed and thought,
"What a multi-talented person!
"He's not just
a boxing promoter. He's an artist, too."
DON KING PLAYS: "DON GIOVANNI
- OVERTURE," W. A. MOZAR
Yes, he really was an artist.
I walked around the side
and saw that it was all a fake.
The piano was playing itself.
I could see one of the pedals
moving without him touching it.
That's right!
I am a Berliner.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
He was certainly an actor.
We decided to turn him down.
We didn't want the deal.
He wasn't an honest person.
There's no promoter who can do that!
No other promoter
can play like that!
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!
Thank you!
Thank you very much!
HAMBURG
(KLAUS-PETER KOHL SPEAKING)
It's normal for a heavyweight
Olympic champion
to get offers from
all over the place,
KLAUS-PETER KOHL
BOXING PROMOTER
but we had already built up
quite a close relationship.
Power! Get to it!
Come on, jab!
Yes!
(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING)
There are several ways
of training up boxers,
but Wladimir was very young
and had no professional experience
and neither did Vitali.
You can spar and
train all you want,
but it's not
the same as a fight.
PROFESSIONAL BOXING DEBU NOVEMBER 16th, 1996
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
At my first
professional match, with my torso bare,
I had small gloves and
no protection at all.
I really had to grit my teeth.
I felt my whole body tingling.
You can feel
the heat of the lights that are shining on you.
Your opponent is there,
and something clicks,
and then you're off.
My hands felt very solid
and I could sense
the amazing power in my fists
due to my hand wraps
and all the new equipment
that you have as
a professional boxer.
Suddenly it all
happened very fast
and he was on the floor.
In my head I was saying,
"Don't get up."
I had this
killer instinct in me.
"Don't get up!
I'll kill you. Don't get up!"
He got up.
Five, six, seven, eight...
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)
A short right hook.
It's a direct hit!
Take the mouth guard out.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
I thought, "Okay,
we're just boxing."
But I didn't expect
to knock him out.
It gives you a certain kick,
knowing what you're capable of.
I tasted blood, so to speak.
(COMMENTATOR SPEAKING)
Winning by KO in the first
round after one minute and 36 seconds,
Wladimir Klitschko!
Ladies and gentlemen,
I think we're
going to have fun with the Klitschko brothers.
(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING)
From the very beginning
they were always asking,
"What is the plan?"
and "What are we doing next?"
The plan was to make them both
world champions.
From the start,
I knew they had what it took.
They weren't taken seriously
because they were so tall
and so different from each other.
(HARTMUT SCHERZER SPEAKING)
When they became professionals
and started knocking everybody out,
often both on the same night
at the same event,
HARTMUT SCHERZER
SPORTS JOURNALIS
that's when you really noticed
that they were
like forces of nature.
Vitali has
an unconventional style.
His brother
thinks it's terrible.
It's impossible to
second guess Vitali. He fights like a cowboy.
His fists hang at his hips,
then he suddenly draws the gun.
He has great reflexes.
He doesn't avoid punches
by keeping his guard up,
but instead by just
using his reflexes.
Wladimir's style,
on the other hand, is more classic.
He has a fantastic left jab,
with which he can
control the whole match.
That's really his best punch.
Wladimir's boxing
is very intelligent.
For him a match is
like a game of chess.
That made me realise
that they had the ability
to become world champions,
at least one of them,
if not both.
WBO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
HERBIE HIDE vs. VITALI KLITSCHKO
June 26th, 1999
(VITALI SPEAKING)
I'm pleased to say
I broke a record.
It's still a Guinness
World Record to this day.
I knocked Hide out
at the start of the second round
and I became World Champion
quicker than Mike Tyson.
In terms of the rounds
and time it took
to win the World
Champion title.
Ladies and gentlemen, after one minute
and 14 seconds of round two,
the winner and the new
WBO Heavyweight Champion of the World,
Vitali Klitschko!
(DAN RAFAEL SPEAKING)
Then in 2000,
I start to cover boxing full-time as my job.
Now you have to
follow the Klitschkos,
to see what's gonna
happen with their careers,
because they had such
a big name in Europe.
Well, Vitali had won
a belt against Herbie Hide,
but there was very few people,
at least in the United States,
DAN RAFAEL
BOXING JOURNALIS
that really considered that
to be a serious championship.
The expectation,
at least on this side of the pond was,
You know, you need to fight...
"Good for you,
congratulations on winning your belt,
"but you're gonna have to step
up and fight some of our guys
"before we're gonna give you
the props that you deserve."
WBO TITLE DEFENCE
VITALI KLITSCHKO vs. CHRIS BYRD
April 1st, 2000
(BELL DINGS)
CHRIS: I got in the ring
and when the bell rang, I was like, "wow."
Most of the big guys,
they are not that good.
At that time very slow.
And I love fighting
the big guys,
'cause I can outspeed them
and outmanoeuvre them.
CHRIS BYRD - FORMER
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
I couldn't.
I couldn't even reach him.
(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING GERMAN)
I think Vitali had
a phase where he believed
that his body was saying "No."
It was his biggest handicap
and that's what happened
when he fought Chris Byrd.
In the third round
I took a punch
or I did some kind of movement
after which I had intense pain
in my shoulder.
I could only half
see my opponent.
There was a mist
in front of my eyes.
The pain was
getting worse and worse
and I could feel that
I was getting weaker.
(BELL DINGS)
Vitali was far ahead on the scorecards
late in the fight,
when it seemed suddenly
that he retired or quit
and we could
not understand it.
LARRY MERCHAN TELEVISION BOXING ANALYS
(FRITZ SDUNEK SPEAKING GERMAN)
The rims of his eyes
were black from the pain.
When I see that
one of my fighters
isn't able to defend himself
or he has no chance,
I end the fight.
FRITZ SDUNEK
COACH OF VITALI KLITSCHKO
The boxer's pain
is my pain, too.
I know them well
enough to judge
how much longer
I can let them stay in the ring.
against a guy much, much smaller than him,
who he was winning against.
And he was ridiculed by fight
fans and, frankly, by the media.
Really not given much respect
for quitting like that,
particularly when
you don't see blood,
you don't see a guy's eye
hanging off
or a broken nose or
some serious injury.
You can't look
at a guy and say,
"Wow, he's got
a shoulder injury!"
(FRITZ SPEAKING GERMAN)
Afterwards I went
to see Vitali.
He was alone at home
with the newspapers.
They had labelled him a wimp.
He needed
psychological support.
We talked and I said,
"Vitali, we must organise
a press conference for today."
The doctors had said
that if he'd carried on
his supraspinatus tendon
would have been destroyed
and his career
would have been over.
At that point
I received a letter from Max Schmeling.
That helped me a lot,
mentally.
Max wrote,
"I've hit rock bottom
countless times in my life,
"but the important thing
is that you never stay there.
"You have to find the strength
to get up and carry on."
"THE BROTHER'S REVENGE"
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO vs. CHRIS BYRD
October 14th, 2000
First of all: we're not wimps!
And secondly:
I'm World Champion at the moment.
And thirdly:
I love my brother! Thank you.
(HARTMUT SPEAKING)
The title was back in the
family, this time thanks to Wladimir.
One brother always made up
for the other brother's defeats,
and put everything
to rights again within the family.
Max Schmeling was definitely
an inspiration to me,
inside the ring
and even more so outside of it.
I'm really happy
that we became friends.
Max said to us,
"Boys, if you want
to be real world champions,
"you'll have to go to the USA.
"Go and box in the USA."
LOS ANGELES
LENNOX LEWIS vs. VITALI KLITSCHKO
June 21st, 2003
(FRITZ SPEAKING)
We were preparing
for a different kind of boxer
and we got a message,
whilst training in Los Angeles,
saying that Lennox's
opponent couldn't fight
and asking whether
we could step in.
We said that wouldn't be
a problem. The fight was three weeks away.
We found new sparring partners
and got busy preparing.
Vitali was raring to go.
From Kiev, Ukraine,
Vitali Klitschko!
EMANUEL: You must
remember that until the Lennox Lewis fight,
Vitali Klitschko
was the one that was ridiculed by the public
and said to be
the one with no heart,
because he quit in the fight when he was
fighting Chris Byrd with a shoulder injury.
So all throughout America, everyone looked
at him as the one that was a quitter.
COMMENTATOR: Lennox Lewis
has established himself
as the best
heavyweight of his time.
He is now on
a victory lap to his career.
UNTIL HIS RETIREMENT IN 2004,
LENNOX LEWIS WAS COACHED
BY EMANUEL STEWARD
But I do know that
this fight as an event
was upgraded from
business class to first class
when Klitschko
became a part of it.
(BELL DINGS)
Klitschko pawing
with his punches, but throwing punches,
as Lewis has not
gotten his jab going early.
EMANUEL: Lennox was
always the taller guy.
But for the first time
he was not out of range,
Vitali was punching
from all angles
and fighting with
a very, very, very passionate determination
and I could see
after the first round that we were in trouble.
COMMENTATOR:
He's beating Lewis to the punch.
He rips in again with the right
hand. Lewis momentarily wobbles.
And now Lewis
is still wobbling as Vitali goes after him.
He landed a really
stiff straight right hand that wobbled Lewis!
(FALK SPEAKING GERMAN)
The change of mood in the hall
was just amazing.
At first they
were against Vitali.
Suddenly everyone was
screaming, "Yeah, Klitschko! Klitschko!"
(BELL DINGS)
I told Lennox, I said, "You're losing
"the heavyweight
championship of the world."
I said,
"The guy's beating you,
"so start jabbing and
pushing him real hard and be very physical.
"When you get inside,
throw uppercuts,
"left hooks,
you can't try to box him."
LARRY: To Lewis' credit
he stood his ground.
And even though he was behind in the
fight, he started some hard exchanges
and, um,
and damaged Vitali.
COMMENTATOR: And now Vitali
bleeding by the left eye as well.
And Vitali's cut
is over the eye.
DR PEARLMAN HICKS:
what happens is that the force of the blow
hits the area on the skull
where the eyeball sits.
DR PEARLMAN HICKS
PLASTIC SURGEON AND RINGSIDE DOCTOR
The orbit has
very sharp edges.
And these edges can
be damaged quite... They can be quite sharp.
And there can be
quite a severe damage
once the skin is
forcibly pushed against the edges.
(BELL DINGS)
There are usually
three things that are allowed
for the cutman
to have in a fight to stop the bleeding.
One is Avertin,
which is a drug
that's used to
start coagulation.
They can also use adrenaline.
Adrenaline which is epinephrine.
They put this on the wound
to stop the bleeding.
And then there's
another substance called gel foam,
which is sort of
a spongy-like material you can put on the skin
to stop
the blood from bleeding.
(FRITZ SPEAKING GERMAN)
Use your left and then dodge.
Step to the side!
at cuts in boxing like, "Okay, you get cut.
"All right,
I want a clean fight."
And some guys, I call them the
cowards, will be like, "No, I'll stop,"
and look for a way to get out.
No, if you're a fighter,
you keep fighting.
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
PEARLMAN: One ofthe most
common things is lacing.
And what it is,
is the glove has laces on it,
and so the fighter
will throw a punch.
But he'll use the laces of the
glove, the bottom of the glove,
to rub across the wound
to make it bleed.
(BELL DINGS)
CUTMAN: He's still
bleeding out there!
(FALK SPEAKING GERMAN)
The wound Vitali
had above his eye was so deep
that the swab was
disappearing inside it.
Just watching
the footage is painful.
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
what an uppercut by Lewis!
COMMENTATOR 2:
Klitschko holds on.
COMMENTATOR 1: And guess what
guys? He can take a punch, too!
COMMENTATOR 2:
And he's got heart!
(BELL DINGS)
PEARLMAN: On a scale from one to 10,
this cut was probably about an eight.
Ten is an arterial cut
that has arterial blood squirting out
and blood's all over the ring,
all over the fighter's face.
The main danger of
a cut like this is that
it continues to become larger
during the fight.
And it could have
torn his tear duct
or could have injured
the muscles of his eye,
which could have
been a permanent injury.
So the discussion was
whether or not to stop the fight.
(FRITZ SPEAKING GERMAN)
I don't have good
memories of that moment.
The ring doctor
had a look at it and said, "Stop the fight!"
The fight has been stopped,
because of the damage
to Vitali Klitschko's eye.
No!
No! No!
(FALK SPEAKING GERMAN)
I think that
everyone in the hall wanted the fight to go on.
I then realised that
the injury was serious
and that they did it
for his own good.
All respect to the doctor
for standing up to Vitali's brother
and Vitali himself,
who was ready to tear him apart.
Despite the loss,
an extremely memorable fight,
a tremendous action battle.
The kind of fight that
fight fans want to see in a heavyweight fight.
And even though it was
not the outcome that Vitali wanted,
he knows that he gained immeasurable
respect from the American public.
And my good friend Larry Merchant from
HBO put it best after that fight,
I always remember that, that "Lennox Lewis
won the fight, Vitali won the event."
(LOUD APPLAUSE AND CHEERING)
EMANUEL: So he became
a guy who was known
as a gallant warrior
after that fight.
And that is still 'cause
he isn't doing nothing that much dramatic,
if you think of it,
even in all of his great victories that he's had.
But that fight is what
really lifted his whole image
more than any fight
that he's had.
PEARLMAN: This wound was
sewn up in several layers,
because it went
down through the muscle into the soft tissue.
And you usually need
to do several layers.
So there may have
been 60 stitches
on the outside and
I don't remember
how many stitches there were.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
Boxing is no joke.
It's brutal and dangerous.
What I want is for
people to see both sides.
They go to an event
and underestimate the opponent.
Each and every
opponent is dangerous.
That's been proven
time and again,
like when legendary
boxer Max Schmeling
beat Joe Louis,
who was unbeaten at that point.
That was a surprise.
Like Mike Tyson in Japan
losing against Buster Douglas
or when I lost
against Corrie Sanders.
He was supposedly past it
and no one thought he had it in him.
There are lots of cases
in heavyweight boxing
where one punch can
decide everything.
WBO TITLE DEFENCE
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
vs. CORRIE SANDERS
March 8th, 2003
I lay there on the canvas
and I was so angry!
I thought, "You squirt!
You can't do that to me."
My ego had been bulldozed!
I wanted revenge.
(BERND BOENTE SPEAKING)
Wladimir's mistake was
that he didn't use his jab
and wait for the right moment.
Instead, he thought,
"I can't believe it. He got me!"
BERND BOENTE
MANAGER OF THE KLITSCHKO BROTHERS
And he just went
straight at him without blocking.
Corrie Sanders was a real pro.
He was just waiting for that
and he can punch like a horse.
It doesn't matter if a boxer
is seen as the underdog.
Any boxer with
enough power in his punch
can end the fight
with a single blow,
and that one second
can turn the fight around.
Boxing is such a rough sport.
I've had four surgeries
and I gotta have one more
to try to replace my cornea
and hopefully that'll give me my vision back.
LAMON BREWSTER BLINDED
AFTER A FIGH
AGAINST ROBER HELENIUS IN 2010
If you don't have
nothing else in life, if you don't have a family,
if you don't have money,
if you don't have any job,
no opportunity,
you can do boxing.
I don't understand why
the Klitschkos would choose boxing,
when there are so
many other things.
They are smart guys.
They could have been doctors,
they could have been lawyers.
I would have
taken the easy road.
Hey, I commend them.
They didn't have
to come down here
with people like myself,
but they did.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
A year later I got a chance
at the world title again.
I trained for it
in Los Angeles, together with Vitali.
We both wanted to become
world champions at the same time.
That had never happened before
in the history of heavyweight boxing.
In terms of technique,
Brewster was a good match for me.
Klitschko gets the jab
and the left hook going in,
rocks Brewster back.
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO vs.
LAMON BREWSTER - April 10th, 2004
This becomes target
practise at that range!
Wladimir was throwing a tremendous number
of punches for a heavyweight
and, um,
and he was vulnerable to be hit
back when Brewster could survive.
It was one of those
sudden turnabouts
that sometimes
happens in prizefighting
and Wladimir himself
never fully reconciled
exactly what happened.
COMMENTATOR:
with a huge left hook.
And Wladimir is
in trouble now.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Then I heard the bell
and the referee came between us,
and I felt my balance going.
I had to keep
moving to stay upright.
I stumbled over
the referee's foot and was down.
Then I just felt I
couldn't get up any more.
And now Robert Byrd stops the fight.
Robert Byrd takes a look
at Wladimir Klitschko
and decides he can't continue
and stops the fight.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
This woman was
looking into my eyes.
I couldn't keep my head up
or open my eyes properly.
She just said,
"His pupils are dilated.
"I think he's had
a brain haemorrhage."
(SIREN WAILING)
I remember being
in the ambulance and hearing the siren.
My brother was next to me
and I couldn't speak,
but I just about
managed to say,
"I'm sorry, brother.
I messed up."
when wladimir was in the hospital,
Vitali was on the phone
really crying and sobbing with his
mother, it was just a very bad moment.
(NADESHDA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I saw a new side to Vitali.
He wanted to
spare my feelings,
so he decided not to
tell me the whole truth.
He carried the burden
of it all on his own.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
An hour later, I woke up.
I was able to speak again.
I got up and
left the hospital.
The next morning
Vitali and I were on the plane
and Vitali said,
"Take a look in the mirror.
"I think that's the end
of your boxing career.
"Think about it long and hard,
but I think it's over."
I and wladimir were walking down
a street in New
York going to eat
and this guy comes up,
like a little street guy,
and he goes,
"How are you doing, Mr. Steward?"
And so I say,
"Yeah, how are you doing, man?"
"Klitschko, man, yeah,
that was a hell of a fight with Lennox, man.
"I loved you, man,
you're tough.
"You my kind of guy,
you're a street guy, man."
And I said,
"This is not Vitali, this is Wladimir."
And he says, "Wladimir?
I know who you are.
"You're the one
that got no heart, you got no stamina,
"you're the one who was
falling all over the place, you're..."
And it was so embarrassing
and I wanted to start a fight and push the guy
and Wladimir said,
"Leave him alone."
You could see
Wladimir was walking
with almost tears
and he was so hurt
and that's when
he said to me, he says, "Emanuel,"
he says, "I've always,
since I was a baby, was a fighter,
"was the star.
I was always on top.
"And now all of a sudden,
I'm on the bottom."
AUSTRIA - GOING
TRAINING CAMP
(BERND SPEAKING GERMAN)
Vitali had no belief in
his brother after that.
That was a low point for him.
He replaced his entire team.
"We do everything my way
from now on," he said.
"I have to develop my
strengths and my team.
"I'm the sportsman.
What's important is what I want.
"It's me in the ring.
My team has to back me."
I think I'm the only
one left from that team.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
Wladimir loves people
saying nice things about him.
He doesn't like
criticism very much, but I love it,
because it gives you
the chance to develop yourself.
So I arrived at
the training camp,
and watched
the sparring session.
Wladimir wasn't on good form.
His punches kept
missing their target.
He was making
beginners' mistakes.
His trainer said,
"Excellent, wonderful."
Afterwards, I said,
"Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop!"
"What was excellent?
It was dreadful.
"I didn't like it at all."
Afterwards I made a big fuss.
The trainer
shouldn't flatter him.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
He was always making comments.
He always butted in,
going on and on and on.
Then we started to
argue with each other
and for the first
time in our lives we yelled at each other.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
We had a big row.
"Until you turned up here
at the training camp,
"everything was fine,
and now you don't like it."
We had a huge fight
and afterwards Wladimir said,
"Vitali, do me a favour.
"Don't be angry,
"but I don't want you
at the training camp.
"I'll do it on my own."
(VITALI SPEAKING)
I said, "You're a grown-up.
"I know you have a good team.
"You don't need
your brother here. I don't want to bother you."
struck me about the Klitschkos
is that prizefighting to them
was more of a sport or a game
than it was for most of
the American fighters.
There is a saying in America,
"You play football, you play baseball,
"you play basketball.
You don't play boxing."
Boxing is serious stuff.
And, in fact, from the
prizefighters in America's point of view,
they didn't believe
they had the mental and emotional makeup
to become really
serious fighters, much less champions.
And he realised
that he needed to change everything.
And so I've always told him
that I believe in these white shoes,
special shoes that I have
made this energy, much lighter,
the brighter the colours,
they generate more energy.
You wear black,
sluggish stuff,
you fight more sluggish,
I would say.
We, instead of
using the Vaseline,
we use a cocoa
butter cream in training,
'cause the cocoa
butter actually melts
into the skin and
keeps the skin soft
where the Vaseline
just stays on the skin and comes off.
Also I was showing him how a protective cup
has too much extra weight on it,
so he took his own cup
that we train in, himself,
and with a razor, cut off a lot of the
leather, restitched stuff like this,
like a little old woman,
to fix it up just so that's right.
So we began to become
detailed about everything
'cause the little,
small things
make a big
difference in a fight.
Paint it, man! Sauce.
Just relax, man.
That's my business here.
Did you even know
what a grill was before me?
Don't be a dick.
DAVID WILLIAMS:
we sort of have a plan,
I mean, it's not
something that's really written out.
But we do
everything from scratch.
DAVID WILLIAMS
CAMP MANAGER
Not a lot of salt.
Not a lot of extra fat.
No cream sauces,
things like that.
A lot of protein,
lot of fruits, lot of vegetables.
Just common sense.
Except dessert.
Chocolate cake, cheesecake.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
Nobody touches
the barbecue but me.
I love barbecuing.
David showed me how it's done.
I used to have no
idea how to do it.
But after four
years of practise,
I'm pretty good.
And oftentimes I get a call from Vitali
and it's funny, really.
"This is Vitali,
can you talk to Wladimir?
"Because I want to
come to the camp.
"I won't say nothing.
"I'll only be there
for maybe two days, just one day."
And then I get
to the gym, I say, "Wladimir, I talked to..."
He says,
"Vitali is not coming."
Before I can say it,
he says, "No, he cannot come."
Oh, you didn't
take the skin off?
DAVID: No.
It's burnt!
EMANUEL:
And then we end up being matched against
the most feared heavyweight
at that time in boxing,
even more feared
than the champions
and that was the vicious Sam
Peter who was knocking out everyone,
the Nigerian nightmare.
ATLANTIC CITY
September 24th, 2005
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
Peter was unbeaten
and had knocked everyone out.
He'd won maybe
two bouts on points.
He'd knocked out 25
or 30 of his opponents.
Peter had stated
his feelings clearly:
is a dead man walking."
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
COMMENTATOR: There are
many Ukrainian fans here.
So there will be
a positive reception
from much of the crowd
for Wladimir Klitschko.
EMANUEL: And so therefore,
Vitali, Bernd,
everybody was naturally
caring and worrying about Wladimir,
was very nervous,
did not really want him to fight.
Wladimir himself said,
"I want the fight.
"If that's the best out there,
and I aim to come back."
(BERND SPEAKING GERMAN)
Well, I already had grey hair,
but watching that fight
certainly didn't help.
That was extreme.
(SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
One, two, and you'll have him!
wladimir, he will always be his little brother.
And so he knows and sees,
"If I just get him
with one punch in training
"and I get him
out of balance..."
Vitali is a nervous wreck.
He's an overly protective big brother.
(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
Keep at him!
Again!
Again, Vova!
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
Peter was incredibly strong.
I hit him again and again.
I really let him have it.
I couldn't knock him out.
He moved fast and hit back,
keeping me on my guard.
Peter makes it clear
he's ready for
an all-out war now.
Boxing is over.
It's gonna have to be a fight!
If he wants to
recapture his boxing skills, fight him!
(SHOUTING)
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
He was down and up
again in no time.
He was floored three times,
twice by illegal punches
to the back of his head.
(VITALI SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
Jab!
Vova! Vova!
Vovuchka! Out of the corner!
This is the moment of truth for Klitschko!
(BERND SPEAKING GERMAN)
The third punch
was a direct hit
and it showed that Wladimir
could still take it,
contrary to what
some experts thought.
He took that punch,
even though he was very shaky.
(BELL DINGS)
This is a wonderful fight.
I don't know
what's gonna happen.
EMANUEL: That is the most
dramatic 12th round
that I have ever experienced
in my 56 years in boxing.
I saw him going out
for the 12th round with Vitali looking at me,
he says, "Emanuel,
will he be able to make it?"
Because we felt he
was ahead on points.
Everybody was praying
that he could make it through this 12th round
and I was, "Oh, my God!"
COMMENTATOR: Three minutes to define
future identity in the heavyweight division.
(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
Jab!
He lands a huge one.
And Wladimir is hurt!
(SHOUTING IN RUSSIAN)
Move to the side!
Let him have it!
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
I then landed a left hook
and he couldn't take it.
most damage he did to Sam Peter all night.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
To this day, I'm still
amazed he managed to stay on his feet.
He swayed from side to
side like a kastanka.
A kastanka is a doll
with a weight at its base.
Push it and it
sways back and forth.
(SHOUTING)
(CROWD CHEERING)
Ladies and gentlemen, we do have a winner.
All three judges
scored the bout identically,
the Steelhammer,
Wladimir Klitschko!
(HARTMUT SPEAKING GERMAN)
I have great respect
for Wladimir.
The real champions
are the guys
who get knocked out
and really hit rock bottom
and then have the strength
to fight back to the top.
HARTMUT SCHERZER
SPORTS JOURNALIS
the fight and to become number one,
mandatory in IBF and WBO.
And that's my goal, now I'm in this
position to fight for the championship.
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
I'm a fatalist.
I believe in destiny.
I wanted to fight,
so I went to the training camp.
I got a slipped disc.
I needed another operation.
After that, I got one
injury after another.
I didn't fight for at
least a year and a half.
My enemy,
my opponent, was my body.
(BERND SPEAKING)
Then he had
problems with his knee and with his back.
He was preparing intensively
for the Hasim Rahman fight
which would have been
pay-per-view in the US.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
It was the highest purse
in my boxing career:
(BERND SPEAKING)
And the week before,
in the last training session,
he tore a knee ligament.
(FRITZ SPEAKING)
He insisted on going ahead
with a bandage on his knee.
He tried it out, but I said,
"Vitali, it won't work.
"Imagine you're boxing
and you step backwards
"and collapse
without being hit.
"You'll look like a fraud.
They'll never accept you after that.
"They'll think you
did it for the cash.
"We don't need to do
that to ourselves."
(VITALI SPEAKING)
If you can't change something,
there's no use getting worked up.
So I said,
"That's it."
(NATALIYA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
Both I and his parents
talked to Vitali and said:
"Maybe it would be better
if you went into something else.
NATALIYA KLITSCHKO
WIFE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO
"Does it have to be politics?
It's such a thankless task!"
But he said,
"I've made my decision. I'm sticking to it."
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
The Ukraine has
huge potential.
But sadly it's not
really being developed.
Corruption continues
to hold the country back.
It's embarrassing to
read the statistics:
the Ukraine is the world's
most corrupt country.
The MPs have immunity.
They have no qualms
about hunting people down.
We've seen many
brutal examples.
(ANNA STAROSTENKO SPEAKING)
The democratic powers
aren't capable of changing things.
They're not able
to get together
ANNA STAROSTENKO - POLITICAL
ASSOCIATE OF VITALI KLITSCHKO
to push through
reforms in the Ukraine.
I think that's
why Vitali decided
that he had to set
up his own party,
a completely different one,
based on western principles.
KIEV
CITY COUNCIL
Vitali Klitschko has
Not many, considering
there are 120 MPs altogether,
but nevertheless,
we're the third-largest group.
Chernovetsky, the mayor of
Kiev, and his parliamentary group
make money from their
political decisions.
Quite often they're
unlawful decisions.
So we decided to
occupy the rostrum.
Along came
Chernovetsky's delegates
and they tried to
throw Vitali out.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
I told them,
"Anyone who tries
to attack me again
"will get the same
response as before:
"'Keep your distance'."
(ANNA SPEAKING)
Here, people often
go into politics to make money,
that's their main goal.
In Vitali's case,
it's completely the opposite.
(FALK SPEAKING)
He always gives 130 %
and he's twice come second
in the mayoral elections.
You've got to admire
his courage and energy,
but it's a bit
like Don Quixote tilting windmills.
FALK NEBIGER
FRIEND FROM KIEV
That's a good image.
(VITALI SPEAKING)
It's really stressful,
both psychologically and physically,
but just thinking
about why I'm doing it
is a huge motivation
to carry on.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING)
After fighting Samuel Peter
I was the No. 1 contender,
but I wasn't allowed
to fight the world champion.
They wouldn't let me.
I spent crazy sums of money
on lawyers in the US.
I sued the IBF and Don King.
I had to fight for my rights.
It finally worked,
and the preparations
went like a dream.
One of the most important parts
of our training is not
so much the boxing,
we spend so much time talking.
I have never trained
a fighter that had so much of a psychology,
it's like we're two hit men
and we have a victim.
And we're taking all kinds of
notes and putting down everything.
We understand how he walks,
how he thinks, what he eats,
we understand
everything about him.
(WLADIMIR SPEAKING GERMAN)
My boxing became logical.
When I was younger, it was like:
"I'm in the ring,
I'll start boxing
"and hope to get
a good punch in."
I now fight tactically,
following a specific strategy.
Since 2005 it hasn't been
boxing but chess, pure and simple.
IBF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
CHRIS BYRD vs. WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO
April 22nd, 2006
Heavyweight Championship of the World.
I expect a clean fight.
Emanuel Steward
really changed him.
Made him stand up.
He uses height and reach now.
Not aggressive,
going for a knockout,
he systematically
breaks you down with his jab.
He stands on the back foot,
he's harder to reach.
He's using everything
to his advantage.
And so I'm
looking like, "Man!"
So you get in
the ring with him and you're like,
"This ain't the same guy that's going
for..." You know, being aggressive.
I'm the one
being aggressive. Which is so stupid.
I was so amped
up for the fight, I aborted my game plan.
But at the same time,
watching him,
I'm like, "Man.
Okay, this is harder.
"This is just
like the first fight. It's harder than I thought.
"Actually, it's worse."
And he's taking his time
just breaking me down.
EMANUEL: We will not
let him get into his pattern and rhythm,
we will make him
fight the distance
and the pace that
we want him to fight.
And then, when it's time
for, as Wladimir says, to pull the trigger,
we will pull the trigger
and a missile will come out.
COMMENTATOR:
There's another knockdown for Byrd
as Klitschko is
completely dominating.
And that's the end of the
fight, as wayne Kelly's seen enough,
as Byrd's face
is a bloody mask.
And tonight,
he destroyed Chris Byrd
to earn
a heavyweight title belt.
And so there were questions
about him at that time.
Did he have the inner
strength to deal with adversity in the ring?
And it took some time
before he showed that
he wanted it badly
enough to come back.
It also took
some soul searching.
(CROWD CHEERING LOUDLY)
CHRIS:
And he congratulated him, you know, crying,
congratulated him and said,
"Keep the belt!"
I think he was surprised
that I actually went up to him,
because he's probably like, "I just beat his
dad up, he's probably mad at me,"
but I came up,
like, "Congrats," 'cause he deserved it.
JUSTIN BYRD
SON OF CHRIS BYRD
Because I thought my dad was,
like, the best in the world,
so I didn't think
that anybody could really beat him
and he
proved me wrong.
CHRIS: And, "Dad,
you lost both of your belts to wladimir."
"Yeah, but he's a great
champion. So I can't feel too ashamed."
Yes, I was sad. I mean, who really
wants to see their dad get beat up?
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
(BERND SPEAKING GERMAN)
That was
the breakthrough in the US.
Since then he
hasn't lost a fight.
He pulled himself
out of his 'swamp',
like Baron Muenchhausen,
you could say,
and rose up like
a phoenix from the ashes.
He wanted to show his brother.
From being the little brother,
always having to obey Vitali,
he became an equal partner
in the Klitschko duo.
Between Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko
there's the natural,
which will always be,
some type of a rivalry,
that's normal.
In fact, I was looking
at one of the polls
in the Boxing News,
the British magazine,
and it was having, the fans, who they
picked was the best of the Klitschkos
and I think it was,
like, 52 % for Wladimir,
so it's that close.
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
He's still a long
way off winning.
(LAUGHING)
A long way.
I always secretly hoped
that Vitali would make a comeback,
but no one expected it,
what with all
the injuries he'd had, and the operations.
He has such a strong will
and such a high pain threshold.
He came to me and said,
"Fritz, I need your help.
"Can you test me?
I want to box again."
(NATALIYA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
The family was shocked.
Everyone tried to
talk him out of it: "What? Really? Why?"
But in retrospect
I understand why.
He had never wanted
it to end like that.
He wanted to end his
career on a high point.
(VITALI SPEAKING GERMAN)
Fritz is more
than a coach to me.
He's a close friend.
I can talk to him
about everything.
(YELLS)
Fritz knows my body
better than my wife does.
(FRITZ SPEAKING)
A lot depends on
a boxer's lifestyle, whether they get hit a lot.
And Vitali
hardly ever gets hit,
unlike other boxers,
who have to stop
because they'd
ruin their health if they carried on.
WBC WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
SAMUEL PETER vs. VITALI KLITSCHKO
October 11th, 2008
COACH PETER:
What do you say?
Stop.
(LOUD CHEERING)
Whoo!
(KLAUS-PETER SPEAKING)
I wanted them to
be world champions at the same time.
Sadly, it didn't happen
in my time with them,
but I was so glad
when they did finally achieve it.
KLAUS-PETER KOHL
BOXING PROMOTER
It was our dream
from the outset. I'm very happy it came true.
(BERND SPEAKING)
It was great.
And the celebrations!
No cigar has ever tasted
as good as that victory cigar
that we treated ourselves to.
It was just incredible.
We looked back in amazement
at how far we'd come in two years.
KIEV
GERMAN EMBASSY, 2010
(APPLAUSE)
I'll never forget when
he rang me: "Bernd, you'll never believe it.
"They're awarding me
the German Federal Cross of Merit."
And I said, "Brilliant!"
He said he didn't feel
he'd really earned it.
But he's involved in charities
and many other projects.
He supports
the movement for democracy,
and it's all from the heart.
(FATHER SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I'm enormously
proud of my children.
I'd like to thank
the German President and everyone
who put Vitali forward
for the Federal Cross of Merit.
But above all
WLADIMIR KLITSCHKO, SR
APRIL 24th, 1947 - JULY, 13th, 2011
I thank the German people
for all their appreciation.
The Klitschkos as brothers and as a team
are obviously unique.
We have never seen
anything like them in heavyweight history.
It has to do with
the old Soviet system. It has to do with family.
And it had to do
with what their particular talent was.
(HARTMUT SPEAKING GERMAN)
The Klitschkos are
the most intelligent heavyweights ever.
The way they combine
strength and sensibility,
the killer instinct
and intellect.
It's very rare for boxers
to have all these qualities.
People complain all the time
that they don't have
top opponents,
but you cannot manufacture
a top opponent for them to fight.
They can't fight Muhammad Ali,
they can't fight Joe Frazier.
They can only fight
the guys in their era and they've done that.
And they have fought
everybody in their era,
and they've
beaten all of them, frankly, mostly decisively.
DAN RAFAEL
BOXING JOURNALIS
I mean, I don't know
what else that they can do.
LENNOX: Boxing is Iike
the king of the hill.
Numero uno.
Only one champion.
The king of the hill.
So all of a sudden now,
two boxers,
LENNOX LEWIS - FORMER
HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD
two brothers wanna become
heavyweight champions, there's four belts.
So if you split both of them,
two guys get a belt each.
Then you have two
brothers control a title,
which kind of devalues
it to a certain degree,
because everybody wants
only one champion.
So, you know, somebody said,
I think it was me,
I said the two brothers
should fight each other.
(NADESHDA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I said to my sons,
"The same blood
flows through your veins.
"Never do that!
Not even just for fun."
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
I'll make you an offer.
A draw?
Okay, but only
because you're my brother.
(NADESHDA SPEAKING RUSSIAN)
I wouldn't be able
to bear the boxing if I didn't have their help.
They often say,
"Mom, you are the centre
"and we are
the satellites around you.
"We're only happy
when we know that you're okay."
So I can sleep
peacefully at night and not worry about them,
they've promised me
that they will never
box against each other.
And they've kept
their promise to this day.