Vitalii Klychko defends title as super heavyweight champ

by Roman Woronowycz
Kyiv Press Bureau

KYIV - With a new nickname, given to him by the increasing number of German fans who have adopted him as their own, Ukrainian boxer Vitalii - "Klych-K.O." - Klychko successfully defended his super heavyweight crown with a third round TKO of American Ed Mahone on October 9.

Fighting in Oberhausen, Germany, the 6-foot-8-inch World Boxing Organization champion made short shrift of his shorter U.S. opponent, employing what one German newspaper called "an eight- minute battery of fire," according to the Kyiv newspaper Den.

Mr. Klychko, 28, who has won all 25 of his professional fights by knock out, may finally get a shot at the big guns of heavyweight boxing after his victory over Mr. Mahone, the WBO's fourth-seed. Mr. Mahone had 21 knockouts and two no decisions before his defeat at the hands of Mr. Klychko.

The performance attracted the attention of Showtime Television Channel Vice-President Jay Larkin, who said the Hamburg-based Ukrainian boxer has the talent, the intelligence and the potential drawing power to become a major boxing star.

Mr. Larkin's Showtime Channel holds the television broadcast rights to former super heavyweight champion Mike Tyson. Mr. Klychko's manager, Claus Peter Kohl, is scheduled to meet with Showtime officials next week for talks on a possible match.

Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, October 17, 1999, No. 42, Vol. LXVII

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