Klitschko Brothers Make History!

Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko are two heavyweight boxers who are brothers from Eastern Europe. They both showed promising talent early in their career. While Wladimir and Vitali were supposed to both be on the Olympic team, Vitali failed a drug test and was banned from participating. Wladimir would go to the Olympics in Atlanta without his brother and win a gold medal at the age of 20 in the Super Heavyweight Division. They would both turn professional in 1996 under the Universum Company in Germany. They would have almost all their matches in Germany and on rare occasions, in the United States. This is the story about their remarkable careers.

There was more pressure on Wladimir since he was coming off the gold medal and not as much on Vitali. They both started off fast and just 2 years into their careers, Wladimir had a record of 24 wins, 0 losses with 21 KO's, while Vitali had a record of 23 wins, 0 losses with 23 KO's. Vitali even started his first 25 matches with knockouts which is a record. Wladimir would suffer his first setback in Dec. 1998 when he fought Ross Purrity. He was easily winning the fight but ran out of gas and got knocked out in the 11th round. Before this fight, Wladimir had never went more than 8 rounds in his entire career. Vitali would get his first big significant victory when he fought heavily favorite Herbie Hide. Even though he would lose the first round, he came back in the second to KO Hide to shock the British fans in the stands. With the victory, Vitali became the WBO Heavyweight Champion. Vitali would suffer a setback of his own when he fought American Chris Byrd. He was easily winning the fight when he got an arm injury and couldn't continue the fight. Many people would question his heart and determination in this fight.

After Wladimir picked up a couple wins against mediocre opponents, he would face off against Paea Wolfgramm. This was a rematch of the Olympic Finals which was won by Klitschko. Klitschko came out very strong and showed how much he has improved by easily knocking out Wolfgramm in one round. In his next two fights, he fought against 2 top Americans, David Bostice and Monte Barrett. Klitschko took care of both of them, knocking them out in the second and seventh rounds, respectively. Wladimir Klitschko would then get a chance to avenge his brothers only loss as he would get a chance at Chris Byrd. Wladimir would fight nearly a perfect fight as he would win almost every round and even knockdown Byrd in the ninth and eleventh. He won an easy 12 round unanimous decision. For his win, Wladimir brought back the WBO belt to the family. He would make five consecutive defences of the belt against fighters like Jefferson, Shufford, Botha, Mercer, and McCline. There were still many questions about Wladimir but one of the biggest was, what will happen when someone actually hits Wladimir or hurts him? The answers to these questions would come when Wladimir fought the dangerous southpaw Corrie Sanders in Germany in 2003. Not much was known about Sanders except that he had power but low stamina. Probably the upset of the year happened when Corrie Sanders landed a big left hand that would knock down Klitschko in the first. Klitschko was down twice in the first and twice in the second before the referree stopped the fight. This was a shock as Wladimir was supposed to be the next Great Heavyweight Champion.

Going back to Vitali, after he lost his match with Byrd, he would avenge Wladimir's only loss, by knocking out Ross Purrity in the eleventh round. In 2002, he would beat Vaughn Bean and Larry Donald in Germany. Next for Vitali, he was supposed to be on the undercard of the Lennox Lewis vs. Kirk Johnson fight but when Kirk Johnson pulled out due to an injury, Vitali stepped in and the Klitschko vs. Lewis match was on. Most people were doubting Klitschko's chances going into this fight due to Lewis being the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion and he was coming off his destruction of Mike Tyson. Vitali Klitschko still had a lot of questions about him and not many people even knew who he was. Before the fight, there was a funny commercial with Wladimir and Vitali about which Klitschko was which and which one is fighting Lennox Lewis. Now on to the fight, the first round was pretty even but in the second the tide turned over to Klitschko's side as he landed a big right hand that hurt Lewis very badly. Vitali pounded on Lewis with many shots but couldn't knock him down. It was one of the best rounds in all of heavyweight boxing with lots of action. In the third round, Lewis landed a right hand of his own that opened up a big cut above Vitali's eye. Klitschko showed heart by taking all the punishment Lewis was giving him and dishing it back. By the sixth round, Vitali's face was a bloody mess and there were cuts above the eye, on his cheek, and on his lip. He had taken a tremendous amount of punishment and still looked like the better and more conditioned fighter. Lewis would land a huge uppercut in the sixth round, but Vitali took it. At the end of round 6, the doctor would stop the fight, and Lewis was awarded the win by TKO. Klitschko pleaded for the fight to continue with no avail. Many questions were answered on this night and Vitali made many new fans with his performance. He was leading on all three scorecards when the fight was stopped. Vitali was looking for a rematch but Lewis said he would not fight Klitschko again due to that eye. So, instead of Klitschko having a rematch with Lewis, he took a fight with Kirk Johnson, an opponent that Lewis was supposed to face in the first place. Vitali made a big statement by dominating Kirk Johnson and being the only fighter to ever knock out Johnson and he did it in less than two rounds. With this win, he made even more fans and became one of the premier fighters.

Wladimir would next fight two warmup matches against Fabio Moli and Danell Nicholson easily getting them out of there in the first and fourth rounds. Next was a fight against Lamon Brewster in 2004 for the WBO Championship. This was supposed to be an easy fight for Wladimir and most experts thought, he would KO Brewster in a couple rounds and pick up a heavyweight belt for the third time. Klitschko was a huge favorite in this fight. Klitschko had an easy time hitting Lamon at will. Then, suddenly in the fifth, he punched himself out and Brewster took his chance KO'ing Klitschko in 5. Brewster pulled off the upset and scored the win. This was another major setback to Wladimir and was his third loss.

Just two weeks after Wladimir Klitschko lost against Lamon Brewster, Vitali Klitschko was set to fight Corrie Sanders to try to avenge Wladimir's loss to Sanders. This was a very intriguing matchup because both of the fighters could end the fight with one punch. Most people thought that whoever would land first in this fight would win. Sanders came out swinging in the first couple of rounds and stunned Vitali a couple of times but Klitschko survived it and when Sanders' stamina failed him, Klitschko took his chance. Sanders took tremendous punishment and was hurt multiple times. The referree stopped the fight in the eigth when he saw enough and Corrie was a bloody mess. With the win, Vitali Klitschko became the WBC Heavyweight Champion and THE Heavyweight Champion in most people's eyes. He wanted to fight Mike Tyson next since he thought he was one of the best heavyweights and it was his dream but when Danny Williams beat Tyson in a huge upset, Vitali gave Williams a chance. Klitschko would say: "Danny ruined my dreams of fighting Tyson and I will ruin his dream of becoming heavyweight champion". Vitali was right when he knocked out Danny in the eighth round. He knocked down Williams four times in total (1st, 3rd, 7th, and 8th rounds). Vitali was next supposed to fight Hasim Rahman until he suffered multiple injuies over the next two years and retired from boxing in 2005.

Wladimir would bounce back again after his loss to Brewster by beating Williamson and undefeated Eliseo Castillo. Klitschko would next take a fight against the very dangerous Samuel Peter. Many people were shocked that Wladimir would take such a fight because Peter was 24 wins, 0 losses with 21 KO's at the time. Peter was the #1 up and coming prospect and already had highlight reel knockouts. Regardless, Klitschko took this fight and it took place in 2005. Klitschko would win a close unanimous decision despite being down 3 times in the fight. Wladimir got a title shot next in a rematch with Chris Byrd. In the first fight, he easily beat Byrd and in the second fight, he even had an easier time. He knocked down Byrd in the fifth round and finally knocked him out in the seventh. He earned the IBF belt. Klitschko was officially back on top of the division. Wladimir has defended his belt six times in total and has ten consecutive victories. He now has the WBO, IBF, and IBO heavyweight belts with a record of 52 wins and 3 losses. Some of the people he recently beat were Brock, Austin, Brewster (II), Ibragimov, Thompson, and Rahman.

Vitali surprisingly un-retired in 2008 to fight the WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter. Vitali explains he came back because it was his and Wladimir's dream to be heavyweight champions at the same time and to make history in the Guiness Record Books. Vitali Klitschko had not had a fight in four years and people weren't sure if he was still the same fighter. Samuel Peter was coming off a KO victory over Oleg Maskaev to win the belt and his only loss was against Wladimir. Many people had mixed opinions about this fight with the experts about 50/50 on who to pick. To many people's surprise, Vitali dominated this fight, hurting Peter numerous times, and Peter was so distraught that he quit on the stool at the end of round eight. With the victory, the Klitschko Dream had come true. Vitali and Wladimir were champions at the same time and now rule the Heavyweight Division. Vitali now has a record of 36 wins and 2 losses. Today, Wladimir is the #1 heavyweight in the world while Vitali is the #2. They have said they will never fight against one another as they made a promise to their mother.