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By Tim Dahlberg, AP Boxing Writer
Associated Press, Los Angeles, California, Saturday, April 24, 2004
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LOS ANGELES - Vitali Klitschko both staked his claim to the heavyweight
title and avenged his brother's defeat Saturday in a dominating performance
that left Corrie Sanders battered and bloodied and unable to fight back in
the eighth round.
Klitschko showed that he belonged among the heavyweight elite, winning the
WBC title vacated by the retirement of Lennox Lewis when referee John
Schorle stopped the fight at 2:46 of the eighth round with Sanders helpless
along the ropes.
Klitschko landed his jab early and often and was sharp with almost all his
punches, while Sanders grew increasingly desperate to land a big right hand
to try and stem the onslaught.
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Vitali Klitschko lands a left to the head of Corrie Sanders
AP Photo/Amy Beth Bennett
(Click on images to enlarge them)
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The fight came to an end after Klitschko landed a big left-right and then
backed Sanders up with a flurry of punches. Schorle kept watching to see if
Sanders would respond, but when he didn't punch back he wrapped his arms
around Sanders and called the fight to an end.
Klitschko's younger brother, Wladimir, who was knocked out by Sanders last
year, rushed into the ring and embraced his brother.
"I had a dream. It's just not my dream, it's a dream of the two brother's
Klitschko," Klitschko said.
Klitschko landed more than half of his punches - 230 of them by ringside
count - to only 51 by Sanders. The only suspense after the early rounds was
whether Sanders would land one big left hand to turn the fight around, and
he couldn't.
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Vitali Klitschko wears a Ukrainian flag and the championship belt after winning his WBC heavyweight championship bout
AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian
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"I was surprised he never went down. He took so many punches," Klitschko
said. "Unbelievable. I was surprised."
Sanders was bleeding badly from the nose and around the mouth, and his face
was marked and swollen by the time the fight ended.
Klitschko was a 3-1 favorite, but there were many questions still to be
answered about the 6-foot-7 heavyweight even after he went six strong rounds
in the same ring with Lewis last year before being stopped on cuts.
He answered most of them in a fight that had the crowd of 17,320 standing
and cheering much of the way.
"This was a big relief," Klitschko (33-1, 32 knockouts) said. "I feel a lot
of weight off my shoulders."
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"This was a big relief," Klitschko (33-1, 32 knockouts) said. "I feel a lot
of weight off my shoulders."
Lewis was at ringside to watch Klitschko and Sanders fight for his old
title, just as he was in New York last week when IBF champion Chris Byrd and
WBA champion John Ruiz each defended their titles.
There has been some speculation that Lewis might come back because of the
fractured state of the heavyweight division.
"I hope Lennox Lewis makes a comeback," Klitschko said. "He promised me he
would fight me again."
Sanders left the ring without comment, and his manager said he was taken to
a hospital for treatment of an injury to his left ear.
"He was exhausted, he was tired," Vernon Smith said. "He did not disagree
with the referee's decision to stop the fight. His biggest regret is he
couldn't land his left better."
Klitschko came out cautious, perhaps mindful of what Sanders did to his
brother, Wladimir, when he knocked him out in the second round 13 months
earlier.
Sanders, meanwhile, went right after Klitschko and caught him with 20
seconds left in the round with a big left hand that sent Klitschko back
across the ring into the ropes.
The fight was fought in flurries, with periods of little action followed by
both fighters trading punches at will. Sanders (39-3) often tried to lure
Klitschko into a corner or onto the ropes, where he would launch a left hand
counterpunch.
By the fifth round, Klitschko was controlling the fight with his jab and,
suddenly, late in the round, landed three straight right hands that sent
Sanders staggering backward. Klitschko went after him and landed a flurry
and Sanders was nearly out on his feet as the bell sounded to end the round.
Klitschko was three inches taller than Sanders, a South African who had
fought less than four full rounds in the last four years. Now living in Los
Angeles, he entered the ring to the song "Hotel California" and cheers from
the crowd.
Klitschko stood next to his brother, Wladimir, while the fighters were
introduced and both stared unblinking at Sanders for several minutes.
The Klitschkos had been boxing's ultimate feel-good story, two giant
brothers from Ukraine who were carefully groomed to become heavyweight
champions. But Sanders knocked out Wladimir Klitschko last year,
resurrecting what had been a mediocre career, and he came into the ring at
Staples Center looking to do the same thing against his older brother.
Sanders, a sometimes reluctant warrior who talked before the fight of
retiring and attempting to play golf for a living, was so relaxed in the
moments before the fight that he was lying down on a table in his dressing
room.
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