Volodymyr Klychko celebrated his birthday Saturday by beating America’s Derrick Jefferson, reaffirming his WBO heavyweight championship, yet the prospects can be even more significant than the title.
Prior to the bout with Jefferson, both Volodymyr and his older brother Vitaly were often reproached for not challenging the really serious adversaries while taking one minor WBO title after the next, notes the newspaper Sport Siohodni [Sports Today]. True, except that the reproaches should be addressed to the Klychko brothers’ promoter Klaus-Peter Kohl. Also true that Jefferson was the best Herr Kohl could get under the circumstances. The contract with Kohl will expire soon and they may be looking for a new promoter, America being the logical place.
Derrick enjoys well-deserved respect across the ocean and Volodymyr’s easy victory — two knockdowns and one knockout in the second round — without doubt means a better chance of meeting with one of the elite in the next bout before long, perhaps even the British Lincoln Louis, the world’s most prestigious heavyweight, WBC and IBF champion, reads Sport Siohodni (www.sports.ru). Uasport (www. uasport.net) stresses that the Klychko vs. Jefferson meet was broadcast by HBO and watched by all of America, meaning that the way Klychko the Younger dealt with him may well bring a spectacular change in the brothers’ destiny. Another advantage is that Volodymyr Klychko flew to the States right after the bout for shooting in the new movie Oceans-11, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and the captivating Julia Roberts, a remake of a 1960s comedy with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, reports Strana.ru (www.strana.ru). In the new movie Volodymyr Klychko will enact a bout with the British Lenox Lewis. The production is expected to appear onscreen toward the end of the year. “It’s just great! Yet it would be even better to actually fight Lewis for the world championship. As it is, our dramatized duel is already making media stories across America,” Volodymyr Klychko told journalists, adding, “I hope that we’ll be able to repeat the bout for real by the end of the year.”
