By Jason Kim: World Boxing council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) came out with both guns blazing at yesterday’s press conference with challenger Juan Carlos Gomez (44-1, 35 KOs) at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer Halle, in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, apologizing to him, saying “I Am Sorry That I Have To Beat You Up!”
Gomez, 35, got up on the stage and explained how he plans on beating Vitali and ending with the “Black Panther” is back! I’m ready to go! It’s showtime!” Before he could leave the stage, Vitali walked up to him and wiped the sweat from Gomez’s brow. Gomez, looking embarrassed, tried to explain it way, remarking “you might now him. He’s called ‘Dr. Iron Fist.’ I think on March 21st, we’ll see who sweats more. I’m a Latino. I’m from Cuba. I’m always sweating.”
Vitali, 37, seemed to enjoy Gomez’s apparent nervousness at speaking in front of the large press group. Vitali had this to say, “It won’t be easy, but I’m convinced that I will beat him. I’ve had a lot of time to prepare for him.”
Klitschko is coming off an impressive 9th round stoppage over then WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter in October. Incredibly, this was Vitali’s first fight in close to four years since retiring in 2004, and yet he looked almost as good as he did in his last fight before his retirement, an 8th round TKO over Danny Williams.
Gomez, a former cruiserweight champion, defeated Vladimir Virchis by a one-sided 12-round decision in the WBC Heavyweight Title Eliminator in September 2008 to earn the right to fight Vitali.
The two fighters previously fought for the same team (Universum) years ago and know each other quite well from having sparred with one another. Gomez, 6’3” 233, will be giving up a lot of size to the 6’8” 250 pound Vitali, so he’s going to have to depend on his speed to try and beat the Ukrainian fighter. Gomez looked very good in beating Virchis, showing excellent speed and movement in easily winning the fight.
However, Virchis had none of the power or size that Vitali has, hence he wasn’t able to make Gomez pay when he came in close to throw his many combinations in the fight. Gomez is counting on his speed being the telling factor in the fight, and hoping that he can outwork the older, slower Vitali.
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