The Cyber Boxing Zone Newswire |
| Press Release by Fabian Weber |
| Wladimir Klitschko pulverizes Axel Schulz to win the European Heavyweight Title Cologne - 26 September 1999. In a painfully dominant performance Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko became the first man to stop German Axel Schulz after eight one-sided rounds to win the vacant European heavyweight title this Saturday. In front of 18,500 spectators at Kölnarena, the largest indoor arena in Germany, and more than 11 million homes who watched the fight live on RTL (marketing share 52%) the former national hero of Germany was suffering the worst beating of his career. Before the fight Klitschko, the 1996 Olympic gold medal champion, stated that his single career loss against Ross Puritty was an important lesson for him. With his masterful performance against Schulz the 23-year-old Ukrainian (108,3 kg / 239 lbs) proved that his pretension was true. Snapping back the German's head with his ramming left jab the 6 ft 7 (2,00 m) athlete dictated the fight from the beginning and won every single round. Schulz, even though highly motivated, was seldom able to connect with punches of his own due to Klitschko's superior reach and height and his ability to make effective use of it. After four rounds the face of Schulz (99,5 kg / 219 lbs), his left eye being already half shut, was showing more wounds than after any of the five 12 round fights against top opponents that the German had faced in his career. In the fifth Klitschko reacted to one of the few right hands that Schulz was able to land throughout the fight with a furious attack of his own that wobbled the knees of the German and made him stumble backwards. Midway through round eight the Ukrainian countered a left hook of Schulz with a brutal right cross that knocked down the man from Bad Sarow badly and let him slip backwards over the canvas. Schulz beat the count, but was ! soon in another hopeless situation, when Klitschko peppered him with punches from all angels until the German sank to one knee with his right arm hanging over the ropes. At 2:43 of the 8th round referee Daniel van de Wiele jumped in to protect Schulz from further punishment. Wladimir Klitschko, the younger brother of WBO heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, improved to 29-1 with 27 KO´s. Schulz dropped to 26-4-1 (11 KO´s) with one no-contest. "I didn't expect his left jab to be that hard", a shocked Axel Schulz admitted afterwards. "The fight was completely one sided. Klitschko has a great future in front of him. This was my last fight. It was a clear defeat and if I can't be competitive with the elite anymore, I have no business being in there. I had a great time, but enough is enough." "Axel fought like a man", was Klitschko giving credit to his victim after the fight. "But for me this was just a stopover in my career. I will become a world champion." Fabian Weber E-Mail: fabian.weber@boxingnews.de International Press Spokesman Universum Box-Promotion GmbH Am Stadtrand 27, 22047 Hamburg, Germany Tel: +49 40 696559-0, Fax:+49 40 696559-50 www.UBP.de German Boxing News www.boxingnews.de |
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