Results from London,
England by
Christophe Neyts
Saturday, 06/26/1999, London
(UK), London Arena, Frank Warren, Sky Sports 1:
WELTERWEIGHTS (8x3) :
Geoff McCreesh UK WTPS08 Ojay
Abrahams UK points score: 76-75
McCreesh: 22-5/9
Abrahams: 14-20-2/9
HEAVYWEIGHTS (8x3):
Orlin Norris USA WKO01 Pele Reid UK
Norris: 50-5-1nd/26
Reid: 13-2/13
BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH HEAVYWEIGHT TITLES (12x3):
Julius Francis champ UK WPTS12
Scott Welch chal UK points score: 115-113
Francis: 21-7/11
Welch: 22-4/17
WBO HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE (12x3):
Vitali Klitschko chal UKR/GER WKO02 (1:14)
Herbie Hide champ UK
Vitali Klitschko: 25-0/25
Hide: 31-2/30
Danny Williams wasn't on the card. On the way to the fight, he was involved
in a car accident. Williams has a whip-lash, he was transported to the
hospital.
New WBO World Heavyweight Champion
KLITSCHKO DESTROYS HIDE
Begin Of A New Era In Boxing
Press Release by Fabian Weber
London - 27 June 1999. It was much more than just one of the most spectacular endings of a
World Heavyweight Championship ever, when Vitali Klitschko put Herbie Hide to the canvas
just one minute into round two for the second and final time in front of 4,000 spectators
in the London Arena. On the one side it was the refutation of malicious comments of the
British press, who, during the weeks leading into the fight, where not giving the German
based fighter the least chance of winning against their countryman.
On the other side the Ukrainian displayed, what no human has ever seen before: A huge
white Heavyweight, who can punch hard and who is lightning quick at the same time. Vitali
Klitschko can be the start of a new era in boxing, after the heavyweight division was
dominated for years by the likes of Holyfield, Lewis and Tyson.
The usualy competent British boxing magazine "Boxing News" was publishing the
cocky headline "Last Week It Was Nielsen. This Week It Will Be Klitschko",
referring to the recent loss of Dane Brian Nielsen and predicting the same for Vitali -
making it "Two White Failures In A Week". Their complacent prediction couldn't
have been wronger.
It was a known fact that the 6 ft 8 in (2,02 m) Vitali Klitschko would outsize and
outweigh the WBO title holder from Norwich by five inches and more than 20 pounds. But
everybody, Hide included, thought that Klitschko would not be able to match the Englishman
in speed. How wrong they were.
Klitschko, 246 lb (111,5 kg), displayed from the beginning that he was not only quicker
than most people thought, but that he was even able to match the speed of Herbie Hide, the
Heavyweight most experts believed to be the quickest in the world of boxing today.
Klitschko was putting pressure on Hide from the beginning, pressing the action and using
his telephone pole left jab. Due to both fighters' excellent reflexes few punches were
landed in the opening round.
It took only few minutes until Hide, 221 lb (100,2 kg), was showing first signs of
frustration. He had good reasons for that, because his supposed easy target was quickly
jumping out of his reach whenever the Nigerian born was attacking and he repeatedly missed
with wild combinations. Aware of Hide's dangerness at close range Klitschko smothered
every try of his opponent to use dirty tactics inside by clinching aggressively. At the
end of a close opening round that all three judges gave to Hide Klitschko was bleeding
slightly on his lip.
But that remained the only blessing that Vitali Klitschko would suffer during this fight.
Few moments into round two Klitschko connected with a mighty right hand to the chin of
Hide that sunk the Englishman to the canvas in real hurt.
Hides nightmare - nine knockdowns against Riddick Bowe in 1996 - was omnipresent again, by
the hands of what he was mistakenly calling a "slow and clumsy punching bag".
Nevertheless Hide rised from the canvas and desperately attacked Klitschko, who now
patiently looked for the chance to land the knockout shot.
Klitschko's chance came one minute into round round two, when he landed a flurry of two
consecutive left-right combinations to the head, knocking down Hide badly. While Klitschko
stood in a neutral corner and signaled Hide to stand up for more punishment, his victim
was all but able to follow up this invitation. Hide lifted his body in slow motion and
somehow managed to get up at the count of nine, standing in front of referee Genaro
Rodriguez on highly shaky leggs with a dazed look. Not even Hide himself protested, when
Rodriguez called a halt to the bout at 1:14 of the second round.
Vitali Klitschko improved his record to 25-0 (25 KO´s), Hide dropped to 31-2 (30 KO´s).
"First we Destroyed. Now we go Dancing", Klitschko's triumphing German promoter
Klaus-Peter Kohl was kidding after the fight, ridiculing Hide's nickname "Dancing
Destroyer".
"This kid is great. He is unbelievable", an excited Harold Ledderman swarmed,
commentator of the American television channel HBO, the most important channel for boxing
broadcasts worldwide. "He's not only big, but also very speedy and he can bang.
Klitschko could compete with the best Heavyweights in the world. He could fight Michael
Grant, Ike Ibeabuchi or David Tua."
Herbie Hide quickly left the arena after the fight without even saying a word to his
promoter Frank Warren, who visibly took the devastating loss of his fighter very hard.
"Vitali will now make defenses of his title in Germany", promoter Klaus-Peter
Kohl announced, mentioning Orlin Norris, who knocked out Englishman Pele Reid in one round
on the undercard, as one possible challenger. "Vitali will get one or two easier
defenses, then we want to take on the best. I know that Vitali can beat every fighter in
the world today."
The fight was televised live on SkySports in England and on DF1 in Germany. In Kiew, the
capital city of the Ukraine, a reported crowd of 200,000 people were watching the victory
of the Ukraine's national hero on a big screen.
You can purchase beautiful action shots of the Hide-Klitschko fight as well as many other
photos of Vitali Klitschko from ringside photographer Mark Sandten, Bongarts
Sportfotografie GmbH, Stresemannstr. 375, 22761 Hamburg, Tel.: +49 40 890227799, Fax: +49
40 8902394.
Fabian Weber
International Press Spokesman
Universum Box-Promotion GmbH
You Can Run But You Can't Hide
By Alan Taylor
Saturday 26th June 1999 - The United Kingdom's Herbie Hide lost his WBO Heavyweight
title to Ukrainian giant Vitali 'Iron Fist' Klitschko by second round KO. Hide, who has
shown a general reluctance to enter the ring since he was mauled by Riddick Bowe, was
giving over two stone (30 lbs.) and seven inches to the 6'8'' Klitschko - it looked like a
middleweight versus a heavyweight.
The first round was probably Hide's. The champion, who had fought only six rounds in
the last three years, displayed his usual nervous, herky-jerky style, leaping in to land
largely ineffectual one-twos while the Ukrainian jabbed, his right hand cocked by his ear.
Forty-five seconds into the second round Klitschko, who has surprising hand speed for his
size, landed a fast two punch combination to put Herbie on the floor. To his credit Hide
tried to fight back but one minute, fourteen seconds into the round, a hard jab to the
forehead felled the champion again, his legs stiffened and shaking. There was no way he
was going to beat the count.
Vitali Klitschko improves to 25-0-0 (25 KO - yes all by KO); Hide falls to 31-2-0 (30).
Can Klitschko trouble the established heavyweights? It should be interesting.
On the undercard Julius Francis retained his British Heavyweight title in a largely
uninspiring 12 round decision over Scott Welch. Welch announced his retirement following
the defeat. Young British Heavyweight prospect Pele Reid, coming off a defeat by Francis,
was thrown into the lion's den against Orlin Norris. Predictably the lion ate him! Norris
clubbed Reid to defeat in the first round
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