Dubai: In the fickle world of sport, it’s a familiar trend to fete and fawn over champions like a young child delighting in a new puppy — before the novelty wears thin, boredom sets in and they become intensely irritating.
The world’s number one heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko can appreciate how oft-maligned serial winners feel.
For the past decade, he has dominated his field with his recently retired elder brother Vitali, his record of 61 wins in 64 wins bearing comparison with the sport’s greats.
The Kazahkstan-born Klitschko is also the second longest reigning world heavyweight champion of all time behind Joe Louis and Larry Holmes, with the third most successful title defences at 15.
Yet, according to his detractors, Klitschko’s hegemony is indicative of an impoverished era for the sport.
His authoritative, jabbing style is soporific and prosaic, they say, lacking the visceral thrills and excitement created by explosive performers of old such as Mike Tyson.
Writing in his column for British newspaper The Sun last year, the legendary boxing promoter Frank Warren opined: “His dour ‘jab ‘n’ grab’ ring manner and indifference to the rules of fair play exclude him from my list of the top 10 heavyweights of all-time.”
Yet for countless others, especially in his adopted fight homeland of Germany, where his fights are sell-outs, the 37-year-old and his brother have represented a welcome antidote to the trash-talkers who besmirch the so-called noble art.
In addition to winning with metronomic regularity, the Klitschkos have unstintingly stood as twin totems of class while others become embroiled in unseemly pre-fight incidents.
For example, Wladimir has helped pay for the medical treatment for a man he beat in 1998, Zoran Vujecic, who suffers from multiple sclerosis.
His innate decency was also in evidence immediately when Gulf News arranged an exclusive telephone interview with him.
Not only did he insist on calling, but he was also at pains to apologise for failing to meet previous scheduled interview appointments.
“Please take my apologies for all the delays in my calls,” Klitschko said in his familiar clipped tones. “The schedule was a little crazy. I hope you don’t have a bad aftertaste in your mouth.”
There are many other salient examples of the 6ft 6in Klitschko being a benign behemoth in a sport often blighted by disrespect.
In 2012, for example, he refused to retaliate in kind when firebrand Dereck Chisora spat water in his face ahead of Vitali’s bout with the Briton in 2010, responding only with an expression which screamed disgust and disdain.
He also remained remarkably unflappable in the face of relentless provocation from another Briton, David Haye, ahead of his own fight with the brash Londoner in the summer of 2011.
Haye’s antics included wearing a T-shirt depicting him holding the heads of the Klitschko brothers while standing atop their decapitated bodies.
Yet, calmness and class personified, Klitschko informed Haye he would “teach him to become a better person”, before delivering a typically commanding performance to beat his nemesis comfortably on points.
So, when he routinely triumphs over all-comers and perennially achieves victories for good taste, is he not irked somewhat by the criticism he receives in some quarters?
Predictably, the cerebral WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight champion of the world, issues a measured and eloquent riposte — one that reflects the fact he approaches boxing in the same studied manner as he plays another of his favourite sports, chess.
He said: “I think it’s always like that in the history of boxing. You’re going to get recognised when you retire. I’ve fought everybody without ducking anyone. I have beaten 10 undefeated guys and I never was comparing myself to the greatest in the sport. I was not thinking of breaking any records. I’m just enjoying my time in boxing.
“I am thankful to the critics. I hope I will do better and knock more guys out so I can satisfy the criticism. If you’re not getting criticism, it’s also boring. I am a caravan in the desert and will keep going.”
The ‘desert’ image leads me neatly on to the obvious question of whether he would consider fighting in the UAE, away from his adopted fighting venue of Germany, and whether he thinks the Emirates could host a high-profile international boxing bout.
He said: “I’ve been many times to Dubai and the UAE and I have friends that live there. It would be exciting to stage world heavyweight championship fights in the Arab world. It’s something Muhammad Ali achieved when he fought in Zaire or the Philippines. It’s absolutely exciting to fight in countries where you have never fought. It was like my first fight in Moscow — my brother had fought there, but I’d never.
“I know how great the infrastructure is [in the UAE] for such a possible fight. It would have historical parallels to the fights in the days when [Joe] Frazier, Ali and [George] Foreman fought in different countries. A message to my UAE fans? Have great health and the rest is Inshallah.”
Despite his advancing years, he insists his ardour for boxing remains undiminished, to the extent that he would relish taking part in the Rio Olympics in 2016.
Last year, the Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) relaxed its amateur-only policy for the Games and ruled that professional boxers could compete, much to Klitschko’s delight.
“I am definitely going to travel to the Olympics if I still have health and motivation,” he said. “We have two-and-a-half years until the Olympics, which on one hand seems like a lifetime, and on the other hand not so much.”
First on his agenda will be a mandatory title fight against the 34-year-old Samoa-born Australian Alex Leapai in April, although a rematch with Haye appears a forlorn hope given that the Briton may be forced to retire due to a shoulder injury sustained last year.
Does he have a message for his erstwhile nemesis?
Klitschko, who represented the country where he spent his youth, Ukraine, at the 1996 Olympics (where he won super-heavyweight gold), said: “I remember before the fight, I said: ‘David, I’m going to make you a better person and I’m your freak, I’m your psychiatrist’.
“And you know what? I am so happy that he’s doing much better, he’s becoming a better person. He’s learned a lot from the failures he’s had and the success that he’s had. I’m really surprised and positively impressed that David is developing himself into a better person and the way [in which] he presents himself.”
He added: “I think also David Haye has been underestimated by boxing fans or critics. He’s a great fighter, he’s in a tremendous state. Yet he’s very sneaky in the way he fights and the way he does things in the ring. I wish him good luck.”
Would he consider fighting another loose-lipped Briton, the 6ft 8ins Tyson Fury, the man Haye was lined up to fight in the spring before his injury?
“Absolutely,” he said, without hesitation. “It’s always exciting to fight someone new. I’m open for any options.”
Sadly for boxing aficionados, these options will not include the electrifying prospect of him fighting Lennox Lewis, the retired former undisputed world heavyweight who beat Klitschko’s brother in 2003.
A British media report had claimed last year that the 49-year-old was considering an improbable comeback against Klitschko, but the naturalised Ukrainian ruled this out given the Briton’s age and inactivity since his final bout 11 years ago.
Could he have beaten Lewis when both of them were in their prime?
“I don’t want to answer this question and you will understand why,” he said firmly. “All the champions — you go and ask Mike Tyson or Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano, Lennox Lewis and myself included, and I’m sorry for putting myself in line with all the other great names — but the champion’s attitude is it doesn’t matter who is in front of me, I am going to conquer this person and win the fight and knock the person out. It’s unfair to say ‘Ah, I would have beaten him’. It’s something that will never happen.”
While boxing remains his foremost passion, Klitschko is also a fervent philanthropist with his brother through their Klitschko Brothers Foundation, a charitable organisation they founded in 2003 to help underprivileged children in Ukraine.
The benevolent brothers hold an annual charity gala for the foundation involving an auction of prizes — the younger Klitschko auctioned off his 1996 Olympic gold medal in 2012, for example.
Funds raised support the education and sporting ambitions of Ukrainian youngsters, with summer camps in others countries and specialist sports colleges having been created in dilapidated school buildings in Ukraine.
The Klitschkos were themselves schooled in adversity in 2011 when their father, who took part in the clean-up operation following the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986, died from cancer. It is thought the disease was caused by his exposure to radiation at the scene, which was 60 miles away from where the Klitschkos lived.
Of the impact the event had on him, Klitschko issues a rather disarming response. “Why do you think we are so tall, Vitali and I?” He laughs, before quickly adding: “That was a joke. Of course Chernobyl affected many, many people. It’s still affecting many people. It affected our own family and I lost my father to it, There’s still a lot of radioactivity.”
On a more positive note, what also endures is the superb relationship he enjoys with his brother.
“We have been friends since I was born,” he said. “Because when I was born, he was there, so we have known each other for 37 years. We have always had a great understanding, a great friendship and a great love for each other. The older we get, the closer we get. We’ve simply had one conflict, which was shown in the Klitschko documentary when I said to my brother when preparing for a fight: ‘That’s it, I don’t want to have you in my boxing gym’.”
Further evidence of his intense love for his sibling comes when I ask Klitschko of his proudest achievement — to which he replies that ‘I think it’s in the future’, before expressing his considerable pride about Vitali’s new direction in life.
The elder Klitschko announced his retirement from boxing in October last year with a view to taking part in the 2015 Ukrainian presidential elections. The younger brother admits this arena will present formidable challenges, perhaps even more testing than any Vitali experienced in his boxing career.
“Politics is comparable to boxing,” Klitschko said. “The only thing is that in politics there are basically no rules. In boxing, you can get a black eye, but in politics you can get poison in your food or a bullet in the head. It’s definitely rougher and tougher than other sports.
