- 7 hours ago
Wladimir Klitschko defends his WBO Heavyweight Title against Derrick Jefferson on HBO Boxing After Dark from Munich, Germany
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00:00Artura Gatti, De La Hoya, getting the TKO in Gatti's corner, threw in the towel on behalf of their bloodied and battered fighter.
00:07116 into...
00:30116 into...
01:00Welcome to Munich, Germany, for part two of this historic boxing doubleheader, where anticipation is running high for tonight's bout.
01:17It features the younger of the fighting Klitschko brothers, heavyweight Vladimir Klitschko, taking on ferocious contender Derek Jefferson.
01:24What's at stake tonight? The winner of this heavyweight showdown sets himself up for a shot at the title in the not-too-distant future.
01:33Klitschko, who turns 25 at midnight, has already voiced his desire to go in against the big boys before they retire.
01:41Lewis, Tyson, or even Holyfield.
01:43He wants to be champion soon. A win against Derek Jefferson would put him that much closer.
01:48Hello again, everyone. I'm Fran Charles, and welcome to this special edition of Boxing After Dark.
01:56It's the latest fashion in the heavyweight division.
01:59Giants. Vladimir Klitschko and Derek Jefferson stand over 13 feet tall between the two, and with their size comes power.
02:07Tonight, Klitschko looks to solidify his claim that he is the top contender, the top threat, to take down Lennox Lewis.
02:14While following a couple of setbacks, Derek Jefferson looks to just reappear on the small radar screen.
02:21I'm joined, as always, by former two-time featherweight champ Kevin Kelly.
02:24And, Kevin, there are a lot of guys who say they want to stand in the ring with Lennox Lewis, but is Klitschko the most legitimate contender?
02:31Well, first things first. Guten Abend from Munich, which means good evening from Munich over here.
02:36Well, the biggest thing about Klitschko, Klitschko, right now, this is only a second step up.
02:42He's fought Chris Bird, and he's beaten Chris Bird.
02:44Now he's fighting Derek Jefferson, who's a big man that can punch with either hand.
02:48He has a tough task tonight. He has to beat Jefferson to make a statement to be amongst that elite top guys that he wants to fight.
02:55The Lennox Lewis's, the Mike Tyson.
02:57If he beats Jefferson tonight, he can look good and look further his career as far as getting closer to those championship fights.
03:04All right, Kevin, we hope to see a historic battle here tonight.
03:07Nearly 30 years ago, it was a historic battle right here at the Rudy Settelmeyer Arena.
03:12The gold medal basketball game in the 1972 Olympics.
03:15Team USA taking a one-point lead over the Soviet Union.
03:18And they thought they'd won the gold medal.
03:20But an official from Great Britain protested, put three seconds back on the clock,
03:25said there was a clock malfunction.
03:26And the Soviets taking full advantage of this final chance, handing the U.S. its first loss in Olympic history.
03:36All right, let's take a look at the tail on the tape between Vladimir Klitschko and Derek Jefferson, two strong heavyweight contenders.
03:44Klitschko, nine years younger than Jefferson.
03:47Klitschko with a one-inch height advantage.
03:49Both fighters with the same reach.
03:51Jefferson weighed in at 260 pounds, but he was fully clothed, including boots.
03:55So, as Cam says, he comes in approximately at 245 pounds.
04:00And now, a look at the CompuBox punch stat numbers.
04:04They're power punches per round.
04:06You see Jefferson throws more punches, but it's Klitschko landing at a higher percentage.
04:12And now for the rules of the bout, let's send it over to our unofficial ringside scorer, Julie Letterman.
04:17The Vladimir Klitschko-Derek Jefferson fight is scheduled for 12 rounds using the unified rules of the Association of Boxing Commission.
04:26There is no standing A count, no three-knock-down rule.
04:29Only the referee can stop the fight, and you cannot be saved by the bell in any round, including the 12th and final rounds.
04:37If Derrick Jefferson had his way, he wouldn't even be here in Germany.
04:44He'd be a power forward in the NBA.
04:46In 1993, while Jefferson was attending Cumberland University in Kentucky, he and his brother Kenyatta entered a convenience store.
04:54He had a dispute with the owner of a 25-cent piece of candy.
04:58Jefferson thought it was settled, turned to leave.
05:00But the owner shot Derrick and Kenyatta, hitting Derrick in the leg, Kenyatta in the head.
05:05Kenyatta was partially paralyzed.
05:07Derrick in a cast for nine months.
05:08It was then he took a job at a local YMCA.
05:12And from that point on, his trainer, Claude Strickland, convinced him to step into the boxing ring.
05:19And it's been the right decision for Jefferson.
05:22While Jefferson is definitely a big, heavyweight, strong, Claude Strickland seen his dimensions in the ring.
05:29He said, you know what?
05:30I can make this guy a heavyweight champ of the world.
05:32Kevin, let's take a closer look at Derrick Jefferson.
05:39Well, the one thing about Jefferson in training, he was all tied up.
05:43He used his right hand.
05:44He's tied it to his head because he's admitted that he dropped it every time he throws his jab.
05:51He says, Jefferson says it's all about respect.
05:54He says, it doesn't matter if you win or lose, but the performance you put on to gain the respect of the boxing fan.
06:02Jefferson says that he's battle-tested way more than Klesko because he's fought the likes of Maurice Harris, David Aizan, and Oleg Mascar.
06:10He said, you know what?
06:11He said, you know what?
06:12He said, you know what?
06:13He said, you know what?
06:14He said, you know what?
06:15He said, you know what?
06:16Nearly one year ago, Vladimir's older brother, Vitale, put his version of the heavyweight title on the line against Chris Byrd in Berlin.
06:24Flicko was ahead on all scorecards, but he failed to come out in the 10th round because of a shoulder rotator cuff injury, which later required surgery.
06:32Byrd with the victory.
06:33Six months later, it was Vladimir looking to avenge his brother's loss to Byrd in Cologne, and this time, the Klitschko brother was victorious, sending Byrd to the campus in the 9th and 11th rounds, earning a unanimous decision.
06:49And right now, we are getting ready to see Vladimir Klitschko make his way to the ring.
07:08This is singer Amadeus Bartoni.
07:11This is the 30th wine, Vladimir Klitschko.
07:40Vladimir Klitschko is going in Germany.
07:42And Jim, as you can see, the walkouts are quite an elaborate show.
07:48But I tell you one thing, I'm sure Prince Amanda is watching this saying, what's going on for my ring entrances?
07:54And so is Payez and Hector Carvacho.
07:59He's made actual ring entrance very classical rather than very hip-hop oriented.
08:04And there we see Vladimir Klitschko, 35-1 with 32 knockouts.
08:11The Klitschko brothers are loved in Germany and also in their home city, Kiev, in the Ukraine.
08:20Klitschko started out his career 24 straight knockouts.
08:23But then he was defeated by American journeyman Ross Purity.
08:29Since then, he's won 11th straight.
08:31Kevin, what did he learn in the Purity fight?
08:34Most likely conditioning because I heard that in that fight that he ran out of wind.
08:39He probably is in better shape now.
08:42He takes boxing actually more serious.
08:44When you have those dimensions that he has, you probably take opponents for granted.
08:48He's big, he's strong, and he'll be his power so more effective than everybody else's.
08:54He gets knockouts.
08:55That's 24 straight victories, not 24 straight knockouts.
08:59He had 22 knockouts up at that point.
09:02Let's listen in.
09:03What an elaborate scene here at the Rudy Settleby Arena in Munich, Germany.
09:27Kevin, let's take a closer look at Vladimir Klitschko.
09:32The younger brother of Vitaly, most people believe that Vladimir is the better boxer of the two brothers.
09:41Vladimir received his doctrine in January in physical education and sports.
09:50Vladimir also won the 1996 Olympic super heavyweight gold medal.
09:56He defeated Paya Wolfram, who he also defeated as a pro.
10:02He defeated and he defeated I am.
10:07He defeated Paya Wolfram.
10:11He defeated the two brothers and sisters and sisters.
10:12The third man and he defeated the two brothers and sisters.
10:14His fame won the구나.
10:19As you watch this telecast, you can also log
10:21As you watch this telecast, you can also log on to hbo.com slash boxing
10:27and check out our latest installment of the popular Where Are They Now?
10:32featuring 1984 gold medalist Mark Freeland.
10:35In addition, you can also sign up for HBO's newsletter, Boxing Alert,
10:39for all the latest updates and fine announcements on hbo.com slash boxing.
10:44The ring announcer for tonight's fight is the popular German actor, Karsten Speck.
10:55And right now he is introducing the fighters in German.
11:02Jefferson 23, 2 and 1, 19 knockouts.
11:07But when you talk about Derek Jefferson, there's no measure for one stat that he has,
11:13which is a huge heart.
11:14Well, the one thing he has is a huge heart.
11:15He gets knocked down, gets back up, and knocks out these guys have knocked him down.
11:20He has 13 first-round knockouts.
11:23So I'm expecting his first round to be hot and heavy early.
11:33Vladimir Klitschko is extremely close to his brother, Vitaly,
11:38and there you see Vitaly in the background.
11:40Klitschko, 35 and 1, with 32 knockouts.
11:44Neither brother has missed one of the other's fights.
11:48They used to spar together, but they stopped four years ago because they said they're a little too competitive.
11:53And they're not sure if they want to fight each other.
11:57But what they do want is for each brother to hold a version of the heavyweight title at the same time.
12:04Is it possible, Kev?
12:05Well, it's possible to hold various titles as brothers.
12:09I think it's a bad idea to fight as brothers.
12:12You know, no matter what they say in their life, if one beats the other,
12:15it's going to bother the other brother who lost greatly,
12:18and it's going to bother him for a long term, a long time.
12:21And then I think what's going to happen is going to cause maybe a hatred between the two brothers.
12:24The referee for tonight's fight is Gino Rodriguez from Chicago.
12:30And tonight's judges from Germany, Joachim Jakobsen.
12:34From New York, Melvino-Lenkum.
12:36And from Puerto Rico, Jose Torres.
12:40Folks, don't go to the refrigerator to grab something to drink.
12:46Get your snacks right now, immediately,
12:49because you don't want to miss one second of this fight.
12:51These guys are power-punchers.
12:55And Derek Jefferson promised he has come all the way to Germany to bench.
12:59Let me remind you, this ring is only 18 by 18.
13:02I was heard 19 by 19.
13:04All I know, this ring is very small.
13:06Please find Ruda Hensh, round one!
13:09Let me shut up and begin the action.
13:12Here we go.
13:13We're set for 12.
13:15Title championship bout between Vladimir Klitschko and Derek Jefferson.
13:21The biggest thing Jefferson has is that left hook.
13:32So look for an explosion.
13:33What I'm looking for is to see if he dropped that right hand
13:35because Vladimir has a strong left hook horse.
13:38Jefferson unleashes his right hand.
13:41Jefferson is 6'6", Klitschko at 6'7".
13:48You would think both of their fights would be on the outside.
13:51But Jefferson, even though he's a big man,
13:54likes to mix it up on the inside.
13:56Well, Jefferson has a lot of explosive power on the inside.
14:06And I think this fight's a lot safer for him on the inside and on the outside
14:09at the end of Vladimir's punches.
14:11Jefferson lunging forward.
14:14He told us yesterday he is going to try to make it a ball.
14:18He knows Klitschko can't be a technician.
14:22But he wants to entice him into a battle.
14:26He needs to start utilizing that jab right away
14:28and not allowing Klitschko to get too close to him.
14:31He's got a back press goal with the jab.
14:33Klitschko's being very patient early.
14:35He's not letting anything that Jefferson's doing bother him.
14:37He's very patient.
14:39Like you see, Klitschko's very relaxed.
14:41Jefferson arrived one week ago
14:42and caused quite a stir at the press conference
14:45when he said March 24th, tonight, would be a good day to die.
14:51Well, he explained it to me.
14:52He said that he heard it in the movie
14:54and he figured if you like his analogy,
14:56hey, if he's going to lose any day, let it be today.
14:58It's a good day for it.
14:59And it shows that his mind's into it, his body's into it.
15:04It's a little bit, to me, hesitant right now, Jefferson.
15:10Jefferson lunging forward,
15:11trying to bring the fight inside.
15:13Pay attention to Vladimir Klitschko.
15:16He will not break until the referee, Gino Rodriguez, tells him to.
15:21And that's when Klitschko can be most dangerous.
15:24When he's tied up, he will unleash that short left hook
15:27as he's doing right now.
15:31Jefferson's eye looks like, his left eye looks like
15:34he's got irritated in that combination
15:36like it's starting to close.
15:39Klitschko catches Demersen with a big left hand.
15:41And Jefferson goes down.
15:49Jefferson, a big day, says referee Gino Rodriguez.
15:54Chausen in and he says, let's fight.
15:5615 seconds back from the round,
15:57Jefferson trying to hold on, bringing the fight forward to Klitschko.
16:03He, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he, he.
16:07Vladimir Klitschko making a huge statement in the first round.
16:17In the corner of Vladimir Klitschko, they speak German,
16:20interpreting for us tonight will be Cornelius Winter.
16:23You have to use your left first and keep it up.
16:27More easy.
16:29Don't use your violence too much.
16:31Be patient, but not too much.
16:33You have to get away from him, free yourself.
16:40Your punch was wonderful.
16:44We're going to take a look at that knockdown.
16:46They're going to left hook that Vladimir started at the knockdown.
16:49Then the punches really didn't land, but Jefferson still hit the canvas.
16:52Same result.
16:52Another angle with the same left hook.
16:54It was after Jefferson threw his left hook, he got caught.
16:57And the way to beat a hook was with a hook, and that's what happened.
17:00And if Vladimir Klitschko catches him with the same hook again from a different angle,
17:04Jefferson gets down.
17:05Same result.
17:06Kevin, as you mentioned, Jefferson hurt his eye before that knockdown took place.
17:13Yeah, it was on the inside, and Jefferson was getting a little agitated.
17:17I mean, Kitschko's getting agitated on the inside.
17:19It's not like you hit him with the inside portion of the glove like Julie's notifying me about.
17:23And that's what started the irritation on Jefferson's left eye.
17:28Klitschko connecting on five or seven power shots from our talking box numbers.
17:34Only the fifth time in Derek Jefferson's career, he's been down on the canvas.
17:38But we have seen this before from Derek Jefferson where he's gone down,
17:42but then has come back and remained in the fight.
17:46You have to watch out.
17:47Jefferson's most dangerous when he's hurt.
17:48That's why it's called dangerous Derek Jefferson.
17:50Klitschko lands a left hook to the chin of Derek Jefferson
17:55and now doubles up on the jab.
18:00Klitschko reminds me a lot of the American version of Drago in a Rocky film.
18:05He's very powerful, very strong, strong physique, strong arms, strong punching power.
18:12A dominating force in the heavyweight division.
18:14Jefferson's corner, his trainer, Claude Strickland, told us yesterday,
18:21he believed that the Klitschko camp chose the wrong man in Derek Jefferson.
18:26They saw something they said that they can exploit in the game of Klitschko.
18:31But so far, Klitschko's been very sharp.
18:34Okay, break, break, let's go, let's go.
18:35But the key is for Jefferson to execute that plan.
18:39You know, they say they're going to keep the right hand very high,
18:41and when Jefferson got caught with little hooks,
18:43that means he dropped the right hand.
18:45Big right hand from Vladimir Klitschko on first right hook.
18:49Dropped there at Jefferson for the second time in the fight.
18:53Hey, come here, come here.
18:55Jefferson is back on his feet.
18:57All right, he's back on his feet.
18:58He's a warrior.
18:59Let's go, box.
19:01A minute and five seconds left in the second round.
19:05Can Jefferson hang out?
19:07Blood now, tripping from the nose of Derek Jefferson
19:10as his left eye has shut Jefferson down for the third time.
19:17And Rodriguez calls it a knock, bounce, and the fight's over.
19:21Vladimir Klitschko brought power with power.
19:34And he scores his 33rd knockout with a TKO in the second round
19:40over American contender Derek Jefferson.
19:44Kevin, very impressive.
19:46Like I said, he reminded me of Drago.
19:48It's almost a movie Rocky.
19:49He's so strong, such a dominated force to me.
19:53I mean, I think Leonard Klitschko is watching this
19:55is going to see, yo, this kid has all the tools.
19:58He's powerful, he's young, he's strong,
20:01he's very, very, very hard, and he's very patient.
20:04You know, he's talking a young fighter like Kershko.
20:07He showed a great deal of patience.
20:09Here's the knockdown for Vladimir Klitschko.
20:11Here's the knockdown for Vladimir Klitschko.
20:13Here's the knockdown for Vladimir Klitschko.
20:15Overhand right.
20:16I mean, the hook was lethal, but the right hand was a lot worse
20:19for Jefferson.
20:20Here's the knockdown for Vladimir Klitschko.
20:25Overhand right.
20:26I mean, the hook was lethal, but the right hand was a lot worse
20:43for Jefferson.
20:43Here's the knockdown for Vladimir Klitschko.
20:45Here's the same knockdown on the overhand right.
20:48Here it goes, crushed around the jaw
20:50as Jefferson lowers that right hand,
20:51which he told us he would not lower.
20:53He got caught with that punch.
20:54Hit. Here's the last knockdown.
20:57Jefferson gets hit on the inside with two short hooks.
21:00That one short hook landed. Jefferson goes down.
21:02He never recovered from the overhand right.
21:05Here's the referee stopping the fight,
21:07saving Jefferson from any more humiliation in this fight.
21:10Hey, he was just out strength.
21:12Now, drop the right hand and close to the stronger hand.
21:15And here's the official decision.
21:19Winner by technical knockouts in round number two
21:25after two minutes and nine seconds on new and old champion
21:31of the world from Hamburg, Vladimir Blitschko.
21:45All right, let's take a look at the final punch set numbers
21:49between the Vitaly Klitschko, Derek Jefferson bout.
21:52And here you see the total punches.
21:55Klitschko landing 16 of 44 for 36%.
21:58Jefferson threw more, but only landed five punches for the bout
22:03and was in trouble from the outset.
22:06And now we're joined by the victor, Vladimir Klitschko.
22:10Vladimir, you came in.
22:12You were poised.
22:13You were confident.
22:14Was there anything that you were worried about
22:17with Derek Jefferson in the ring?
22:19OK, you see everything.
22:21And just something I want to say where the same material
22:27like Vitaly and me.
22:29And we are world champions now, world champions now.
22:33And I want to say, I know American boxing fans
22:37love fights like this one with KO.
22:41I said before the fight, this fight gonna be not about
22:4412 rounds.
22:46He gonna be early out.
22:48And I just want to make a gift for me
22:52and a gift for all people who see this fight.
22:57And in America, too.
22:58Thank you very much.
22:59That's right.
23:00Sunday is your 25th birthday.
23:01Let's take a look at the knockouts that we saw.
23:04Take me through it, Vladimir.
23:06Right away.
23:08That's the first knockdown.
23:10Your left hook, your short left hook proved to be the difference.
23:14OK, Derek Jefferson was very dangerous.
23:18He had really big punch.
23:20But he make mistakes and we see that...
23:25The overhand right that caught Jefferson there.
23:27I see this big mistake from him.
23:29And he get right straight, my right hand.
23:35You avenged your brother's loss to Chris Bird in October.
23:39There was a lot of question about the heart of the Klitschkos.
23:42Do you feel that you made an impressive enough statement tonight
23:45to erase the question about the heart of Vladimir Klitschko?
23:49When I say just...
23:55My next fights show everything.
23:57How good is me and how good is Vitaly.
23:59Just you have to have a pageant to see this fight.
24:03Who would you like to fight next?
24:05OK, I think after the Derek Jefferson, he's a really strong fighter.
24:09After the Derek Jefferson, I'm ready to fight against everybody in the world.
24:13What about Lennox Lewis?
24:14I mean Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson.
24:16All right.
24:17Congratulations, Vladimir Klitschko.
24:18And I'm sure we will be seeing more of you in the future.
24:21Thank you very much.
24:22See you soon.
24:23Well, now you've got to see the celebration of Vladimir Klitschko.
24:28He's celebrating his birthday in the ring today.
24:31He's a successful win.
24:32An impressive knockout of an American in the top ten.
24:35Vladimir is definitely one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the game.
24:39Now back to you, friend.
24:42All right, Kevin.
24:43Now we're joined by Derek Jefferson.
24:45Derek, you said you weren't afraid.
24:46You were blessed with the opportunity to come here and stand on the ring with Vladimir Klitschko
24:50and that it was going to be a war.
24:52But what happened in the first round?
24:54Oh, he caught me with a nice shot.
24:56You know, right hand dropped me.
24:58I got back up, continued.
25:00You know, he's a big guy, strong power.
25:02You know, not taking nothing away from him.
25:04You know, I'm a fighter.
25:05You know where I'm from.
25:06We lose some, we win some.
25:08You know, I'm a champion at heart.
25:11No matter what happened today, I still consider myself a champion.
25:14You know, I'm Derek Jefferson.
25:15Derek, what happened in the first round?
25:17It seemed like your eye was irritated before the first knockout.
25:20Did he catch you with tape on his glove?
25:22No, no, ain't nothing happened.
25:23Wasn't nothing wrong with me.
25:24I was in good shape.
25:25I trained.
25:26You know, not taking nothing away from me.
25:27You know, I don't cry when I lose.
25:29He caught me with a nice right hand.
25:31You know, he's definitely a contender.
25:33And, you know, right then, I guess I was in a, you know, all-out battle.
25:40You know, the main thing, I finished on my feet, you know.
25:43You said that you believed that there were aspects of Klitschko's game that you could exploit,
25:49but it didn't come to fruition tonight.
25:51No, it didn't come.
25:52It didn't come like that.
25:53You know, that's part of the boxing game.
25:55You know, he caught me with some hell of a shot.
25:58You know, I ain't no crap, baby.
25:59Everybody that know me back in Detroit, they know what I'm about.
26:01You know, I got the heart to come all the way in Germany to take on the world.
26:04You know, I took on the world.
26:05Well, I finished number two or number one.
26:06I'm here, standing here.
26:07What's next for Derek Jefferson?
26:09Well, you know, you know, get back in the gym.
26:14You know, I took on six top ten opponents in my last day's fights.
26:18You know, I don't dug nobody.
26:19Every time they see Derek Jefferson, they see him on HBO fighting.
26:22You know, I don't take, I don't dug nobody.
26:25You know, I'm just gonna go polish up my skills, get better.
26:27I'm a true champion.
26:28I'm a champion at heart.
26:29All right, Derek Jefferson, if things didn't work out the way you wanted to tonight,
26:33but hopefully we'll see you down the road.
26:35It's part of life.
26:36Never do.
26:37You know, a real champion to bounce back no matter what.
26:38You know, I'm a three, four star, so, hey, who knows next?
26:41I might take up golf.
26:42All right, Derek Jefferson.
26:43So, Vladimir Klitschko comes through with a second round TKO
26:47at the two minute and nine second mark over Derek Jefferson.
26:51Klitschko says he is the top legitimate threat to take on Lennox Lewis.
26:56We will see if that fight will be made sometime this year.
27:00For the entire crew here over in Munich, Germany, for Kevin Kelly, for Julie Letterman, I'm Fran Charles.
27:07Let's send it back now to Las Vegas.
27:09Thank you very much, Fran Charles, and welcome back to the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada,
27:16where earlier this evening Oscar De La Hoya made his return to the ring after an eight-month absence
27:21following his loss to Shane Mosley in Los Angeles last year.
27:23De La Hoya in the ring here against Arturo Gatti.
27:28In case you missed it, we'll look back at that in just a couple of minutes.
27:30But meanwhile, Vladimir Klitschko polishes his credentials as a heavyweight contender
27:36with a second round knockout of American Derek Jefferson in Germany.
27:41Larry Merchant, what does this tell us about young Klitschko and his prospects for the future?
27:45Well, he beat the heavyweight Gatti tonight.
28:00Yeah.
28:01Not a good night for Gatti-type fighters.
28:05Blood and guts losers.
28:06Right, but I've regarded Vladimir Klitschko, who won the gold medal in the 96 Olympics,
28:11as the second-best heavyweight in the world for some time,
28:14I think he's showing it.
28:16The only thing keeping him away from Lennox Lewis right now
28:19is to get a little bit more exposure in the U.S.
28:22Let's see if our own heavyweight champion agrees with that.
28:24George Foreman, Larry Merchant suggests that Vladimir Klitschko
28:28ought to be on the verge of a title challenge against Lennox Lewis right now.
28:31You agree?
28:32He's had over 30 boxing matches or somewhere thereabouts.
28:35What are you waiting for?
28:36You can hit hard. You're knocking everybody out.
28:38Why not knock the heavyweight champion of the world out?
28:40Now, we've been down this road before.
28:42Some of us think he's got a chance against Lewis because at 6'7", he's tall enough to even look down at Lennox.
28:48But you pointed out before the Michael Grant fight, and accurately so as it turned out,
28:52that tall fighters are good targets for Lennox.
28:55Would Vladimir be in that category, too?
28:57Because of the Canadian and European exposure that Lewis has at an amateur,
29:01he fought the taller opponents better.
29:03You get a little low, you cause some difficulty.
29:05The height is not going to help you fighting Lennox Lewis, not at all.
29:08Not at all.
29:09So you would make Lennox still the favorite over Klitschko?
29:11Well, let's see. Let's see the fight be made, and then I'll talk about it.
29:14I think it will be tremendously exciting.
29:15Two big punchers who can box.
29:18And they are 21st century type heavyweights at 6'5", 6'7", 240", 250 plus.
29:24Meanwhile, we had a couple of welterweights here in the MGM Grand Garden Arena,
29:27and Oscar De La Hoya wanted a spectacular return to the ring,
29:31eight months removed from the loss to Shane Mosley.
29:34That's exactly what De La Hoya got.
29:36Toward the end of round one, he opened a cut under Arturo Gatti's right eye
29:40with a vicious left hook, and floored Gatti.
29:43Then, more punishment was dished out in round two.
29:46In round three, De La Hoya lacing Gatti with a fusillade of power punches,
29:51and on the course of the evening, he mixed in some new wrinkles,
29:56a more effective right hand than before.
29:58In fact, some sizzling right hand leads, jabbing to the body,
30:01more body punching in general.
30:03And ultimately, this barrage toward the middle of the fifth round,
30:07which prompted Gatti's corner to throw in the towel
30:10and spur referee Jay Nady to stop the fight,
30:15sparing Gatti any further punishment.
30:17A triumphant return to the ring for De La Hoya.
30:20De La Hoya, George Foreman, tell me what you thought of Oscar
30:23on Oscar night here on HBO.
30:25Oscar night it was, a vicious body attack,
30:28and with confidence in the latter rounds.
30:30I've never seen that with Oscar De La Hoya before.
30:32He was able to throw great combinations
30:35and then back away and let the opponent come to him for a change.
30:38He didn't burn himself out like as before.
30:40The guy is better.
30:41He is the golden boy, and he still has the golden touch.
30:44Well, it's a little more golden.
30:46It has no power to it.
30:48Skeptics would say, George, he did it against Arturo Gatti,
30:51who's an easy target for everybody.
30:52All of Gatti's opponents land more than half their punches.
30:55De La Hoya, no different, landing two-thirds of his power shots.
30:58Doesn't really tell us anything, Larry,
31:00about whether De La Hoya could go down the road
31:02and beat Trinidad, beat Mosley, revive his career the way he wants.
31:06All it proves to me, Jim, on Academy Award weekend is that while Rocky was a movie that was better than the Golden Boy,
31:15the Golden Boy was better than Rocky in the ring.
31:19But what I'm wondering about now is what happens to the Golden Boy's Olympic gold medal.
31:26As you may have heard, the gold medal was given by Oscar De La Hoya to his former promoter, Bob Arum,
31:33as a birthday gift, an extraordinary token of appreciation for all that the promoter had done for him.
31:40Now he wants the medal back, and Bob Arum, the evil genius, is saying, let him call me,
31:47knowing that Oscar De La Hoya doesn't like to do that sort of thing.
31:52So my solution is, let them both go before Judge Judy.
31:57I'm glad I stayed around until the end of the night so that I could hear that unique prospect,
32:03uttered by you, Larry.
32:04Well, all right, that's everything that happened on this unique night of boxing here on HBO.
32:08There's more coming in the future, so let's look ahead to what's coming up.
32:13On the next Sopranos.
32:15Anthony's attacks, how do they make you feel?
32:18Carmela, can I tell you something?
32:21I love to. Don't say that again to anybody, ever.
32:25Muchgas gracias.
32:26Good luck.
32:27Muchas gracias.
32:28Great, muchas gracias.
32:29nenayağı
32:30INA
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