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Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster

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Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster
DateApril 10, 2004
VenueMandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.
Title(s) on the lineWBO heavyweight title
Tale of the tape
Boxer Ukraine Wladimir Klitschko United States Lamon Brewster
Nickname "Dr Steelhammer" "Relentless"
Hometown Kyiv, Ukraine Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Pre-fight record 42–2 29–2
Height 6 ft 6 in (198 cm) 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 242+1⁄2 lb (110 kg) 226 lb (103 kg)
Style Orthodox Orthodox
Recognition WBO
No. 1 ranked heavyweight		 WBO
No. 2 ranked heavyweight
Result
Brewster defeated Klitschko via fifth-round TKO

Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster was a professional boxing match contested between former WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and Lamon Brewster for the vacant WBO heavyweight title. The event took place on April 10, 2004 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1]

Background

After his shock knockout defeat at the hands of Corrie Sanders, Klitschko first brought in new trainer Freddie Roach to assist lead trainer Fritz Sdunek for his quick knockouts of Fabio Eduardo Moli and Danell Nicholson. Following these fights Roach left the Klitschko camp to make way for new lead trainer Emanuel Steward who had become available after the retirement of WBC & Lineal champion Lennox Lewis.

Brewster was on a five-fight win streak (all by TKO) since his 2000 defeats against Clifford Etienne & Charles Shufford, he was previously set to challenge newly crowned WBO title holder Corrie Sanders, who declined the fight in favour of a bout with Vitali Klitschko for the vacant WBC belt.[2] He was then set to face David Tua for the vacant belt in February 2004 before Tua unexpectedly pulled out.[3] In the midst of this, in October 2003, his veteran trainer Bill Slayton died at the age of 81.[4] After a press conference before the fight Brewster was seen in tears after talking about Slayton's death, in sullen anger punching the microphone off its mount and on to the floor, leading to comparisons with Buster Douglas whose mother passed away in the build-up to his title bout with Mike Tyson.[5]

The fight

The first four rounds were dominated by Klitschko, who knocked Brewster down in the fourth with a right hand and appeared to be close to stopping the American but he made it through the round. In the fifth round Klitschko appeared somewhat fatigued and, with less than a minute left in the round, Brewster caught him with a pair of left hooks than sent him into ropes which referee Robert Byrd ruled a knockdown. Brewster then dominated the remainder of the round before Klitschko hit the canvas shortly after the bell had sounded to end the round. After making it back to his feet Klitschko attempted to return to his corner but Byrd waved the fight off, giving Brewster a TKO victory and the WBO belt. Throughout the fight, Klitschko landed 39% of his punches, while Brewster landed just 27%.

Aftermath

Shortly after the fight Klitschko was rushed into hospital. The examination showed Klitschko's blood sugar level almost two times higher than the permissible norm. According to members of Klitschko's team, the doctor told them that Klitschko had been "inches away" from falling into diabetic coma, and that with blood sugar level that high, Klitschko would've been incapable of handling a single proper training session.[6][7][8][9] After returning from the examination to the hotel, he fell ill with nausea, followed by physical weakness.[10] On 12 April, he arrived in Las Vegas and donated blood and urine samples for an independent examination, which was supposed to be done by Donald Katlin, who specialized in such cases. The examination showed no signs of anabolic steroids in his blood, but Katlin suggested that Klitschko could have been poisoned with Haloperidol. The drug has no taste or smell and causes mental disorders, which are accompanied by impaired coordination, a weakening reaction and overall physical weakness.[11][12] Following the results, Klitschko demanded the tests taken by the Medical Center of South Nevada and the Nevada Quest Diagnostics to be passed on to Dr. Robert Wow for further research, but the A sample had already been disposed of, while the B sample, which was supposed to be stored for years, disappeared.[6][10][13] Dr Margaret Goodman, the chairwoman of the Nevada State Athletic Commission's medical advisory board and Nevada's chief ringside physician was in the ring and attending to Klitschko seconds after the referee stopped the fight. Her initial diagnosis of a Grade 3 concussion was confirmed at the hospital after further tests. Goodman was skeptical of the theory that Klitschko had been drugged.[13]

As a result of the circumstances that surrounded the fight, FBI started an investigation.[14] Judd Bernstein, the lawyer representing Klitschko, suggested that he was a victim of an ongoing fight fixing in Las Vegas (which also included fraudulent medical reports), which was investigated by FBI at the time.[15] Bernstein, along with some other journalists, pointed out that in the last 48 hours before the beginning of the fight, the betting odds in favor of Klitschko rapidly dropped from 11-to-1 to 3,5-to-1.[16][17][7][18] Some observers believed that such a massive drop in betting odds was due to Don King betting a large sum on Brewster's victory, however these speculations were never confirmed.[14] Members of Klitschko's team also pointed out that shortly before the fight, a security camera recorded a moment when two people entered the Klitschko's booth and were there for four minutes. These people had badges, but weren't members of Wladimir's team.[7][19] Wladimir's brother Vitali claimed that during registration of the boxer and his team, the card that belonged to Emmanuel Steward's assistant had already been registered on someone else, and that such card would allow its owner to enter any sporting hall in the building.[16][6]

After the fight, Wladimir's cutman Joe Souza was fired. During the fight, Souza used vaseline on Wladimir's face but also body, which had never been done in any of Klitschko's previous fights. As a replacement, the team hired Jacob "Stitch" Duran.[6][20][8]

Brewster dedicated his victory to Slayden, and would make his first defence five months later against Kali Meehan.

The two boxers would have a rematch in 2007 with Brewster's corner asking the fight to be stopped at the end of the sixth round, and throughout the rest of his long career Klitschko would use this loss as driving force saying in an interview with ESPN's Dan Rafael "I will be thankful to Lamon until my grave. It's something that changed my life. I'm not sure what I would have become had I won. That fight changed my life for the good.".[21]

Undercard

Confirmed bouts:[22]

Broadcasting

Country Broadcaster
 Germany ZDF
 United States HBO

References

  1. ^ "Wladimir Klitschko vs. Lamon Brewster (1st meeting) - BoxRec". boxrec.com.
  2. ^ Steel, Adam (June 6, 2003). "Boxing: Sanders banking on Tua with or without his title". gazettelive.
  3. ^ "Out of the ring". www.noted.co.nz.
  4. ^ "Bill Slayton, 81; Taught Boxers and Children". Los Angeles Times. October 30, 2003.
  5. ^ "Wladimir Klitschko Vs. Lamon Brewster I (10-04-2004) - video dailymotion". Dailymotion.
  6. ^ a b c d "Виталий Кличко раскрыл подробности отравления брата Владимира в бою с Брюстером" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  7. ^ a b c "#Cмотри Владимир Кличко - Лэймон Брюстер" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Владимира Кличко отравили?" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  9. ^ "3 предыдущие поражения Владимира Кличко". Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  10. ^ a b The Ring magazine, June 2004. "Poisonous KO?" Author: D. Lederman
  11. ^ "Haloperidol". The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. Archived from the original on 2015-01-02. Retrieved 2 January 2015.[failed verification]
  12. ^ Product Information [Internet]. 2011 [cited 2013 Sep 29]. Available from: "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-03-14. Retrieved 2014-05-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ a b "Klitschko is taking the mickey with sugary alibi". The Irish Times. 2013-03-21. Retrieved 2020-03-04.
  14. ^ a b ""В меня не верил даже брат", или Переломный бой в карьере Кличко" (in Russian). Retrieved 23 May 2020.
  15. ^ "Feds alerted to the case of the horizontal heavyweight". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 March 2020.
  16. ^ a b "Владимира Кличко отравили" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Адвокат Барштейн огласил скандальные подробности боя Владимира Кличко с Брюстером". sportrbc.ru (in Russian). 8 May 2004. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  18. ^ "Как отравили Кличко" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  19. ^ "У команды кличко есть косвенные доказательства, что перед боем за титул чемпиона мира владимира отравили" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  20. ^ ""Дело об отравлении" Кличко расследует ФБР" (in Russian). Retrieved 27 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Memory of Brewster loss drives Klitschko". ESPN.com. November 14, 2014.
  22. ^ "BoxRec - event".
Preceded by Wladimir Klitschko' bouts
10 April 2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
vs. Joe Lenhart
 Lamon Brewster's bouts
10 April 2004 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wladimir_Klitschko_vs._Lamon_Brewster&oldid=1000373170"