Wladimir Klitschko- a Perspective from an American Boxing Fan

By JR Reyes

31.03 - Who is Wladimir Klitschko? He's an imposing man, standing 6ft 7 inches tall and weighing around 250 pounds. He has a brother named Vitaly who is the spitting image of Wladimir, they are in the same occupation and some mistake them for twins, but his brother is five years older. He's also a 1996 Olympic Gold Medal winner , but If he were to be walking down a street in New York City, some people would wonder if he played basketball for the Knicks, but if his career was handled properly, he would possibly be known worldwide as the Heavyweight Champion of the World and would have to fight off autograph seekers with a stick. Of course, some Americans who follow boxing know who he his is anyways and often criticize Wlad and among the most popular subjects being the credibility of Wlad's opponents, but for good reason. He's only fought and beaten one top level fighter, the ulra slick and fast handed Chris Byrd. Wlad dominated Byrd, but one impressive win just isn't enough to become known world wide as a great boxer. But before one starts to call the very proud Ukrainian man a coward, he should take a long look at Wlad's manager, Peter Kohl.

Wlad has some hardships that American fighters do not have and many American boxing fans do not take these into consideration when they should. For one, although he is learning English, he is far from fluent in the English language and that would make it difficult for Wlad to become aware of the workings of boxing politics and business. He relies heavily on Peter Kohl for this and if Americans would dig deeper before they cretiqued Wlad, they would realize that Kohl is the one to blame for his weak opponents. Peter Kohl sets up Wlad's fights, advises Wlad in his decision making, and most likely, chooses Wlad's opponents.

Peter is not helping Wlad, he's helping himself which has hampered Wlad's development, popularity, and earnings as a fighter. A good example of this is the fact that Chris Byrd is the IBF #1 contender and will probably fight the winner of the Lewis/Tyson fight, a position Wladimir should be in, after all he beat Byrd easily. Instead, it will be a missed opportunity because he holds the WBO belt and therefore will not be ranked by the other, more respected sanctioning bodies. Kohl knows this and if he was looking out for Wlad's best interest, he would have convinced Wlad to dump this belt along time ago.

Peter will tell Wlad to keep the WBO belt and promise him that he will get the big fights and paydays anyway. What he will do is continue, for as long as he can, to get Wlad fights with second tier fighters to sell in Europe and give the European fans the false impression that he is the world's best. As long as Wlad continues to win in front of his fans, to Peter Kohl it is good, risk free money in his pocket. This is nothing new for Kohl, he has done this to another fighter he manages named Dariusz Michalczewski. Dariusz is a good fighter but just how good, we will never know as his best years are behind him. His best years were wasted waiting, like Wlad thus far, for consistent fights with the best in the world.

I see Wladimir as the most talked about concept car at an auto show with the manufacturer being Peter Kohl. Fans of the car anitcipate news about it and never miss an opportunity to see it. The manufacturer will tease them by starting it up once in awhile or giving it a test run at the track. After a while however, the fan's of the car become bored and start to doubt the car's abilities. Will Kohl's shiney and sporty "Steel Hammer" ever be given the green light for production, so it can atleast attempt to be the car that everyone thought it could be? I don't know for sure, but he never unleashed his other one, the once shiney and new "Dariusz Tiger" model.