Vitali Klitschko really doesn’t care whether Lennox Lewis decides to retire or defend his WBC heavyweight championship in 2004. Klitschko’s goal is to be a world champion someday and it doesn’t matter whom he must defeat to get a belt.
“Lennox Lewis has been a strong champion for a long time,” Klitschko said yesterday during a workout at a Manhattan health club. “It would be important to fight Lennox Lewis and become the champion. But if Lennox Lewis retires, we’ll fight another strong boxer. In boxing there are many interesting stories, many interesting boxers and many interesting fights. Right now, it’s important to beat Kirk Johnson.”
Klitschko (32-2, 31 KOs) faces Johnson (34-1-1, 25 KOs) in a 12-round heavyweight bout Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The WBC has sanctioned the fight as a mandatory eliminator, meaning the winner will be No.1 contender for the crown. If Lewis, who has not announced his plans, decides to fight again, he must defend his title against the victor Saturday night or be stripped of his only remaining title.
It was against Lewis last June in Los Angeles where Klitschko made himself a worthy contender. Johnson was originally scheduled to challenge Lewis for his WBC title, but had to pull out because of injury.
Klitschko took the fight on short notice and waged a bloody brawl with Lewis. With Klitschko ahead on all three judges’ scorecards, the fight was stopped after six rounds because of a nasty series of cuts around Klitschko’s left eye. Lewis was declared the winner but was booed as he left the ring.
“He showed he had [courage] in the Lewis fight,” said Freddie Roach, Klitschko’s trainer for this fight. “He had no quit in him. It felt like a win to him. It has pumped him up and put him in the American eye.”
The Ukrainian-born heavyweight held an open workout at Gold’s Gym yesterday. Klitschko looked to be in terrific shape as he skipped rope, shadow boxed and worked on his upper cuts and jabs.
The only remnant of his nasty cut against Lewis is a thin line that runs from the corner of his left eyebrow to the corner of his eyelid.