The Shirt That Delighted, The Shirt That Disgusted: GIF Spotlight

As best as I can tell, this footage is from a now defunct outlet's interview, The Fight Countdown. But if they're out there somewhere and I've missed it, credit to them. Either way, this is from back when the heavyweight division's controversy, almost incomprehensibly, was about a mere shirt. Former cruiserweight champion and heavyweight titlist David Haye had been preparing to destroy the division's giant brothers, the Klitschkos, and he had a shirt to display his intentions, portraying himself with Wladimir and Vitali's severed heads. The controversy was that the Klitschko family found this appalling and over the line. Amusingly, Wladimir's dear friend and HOF trainer, Emanuel Steward, took one look at Haye's shirt and he could not be more enthused!

David's only fought four times since his unanimous decision defeat to Wladimir Klitschko in 2011, thanks in part to being riddled with injuries from a grueling sport. That said, he is scheduled to fight Tony Bellew this year. Even despite the inactivity, he may be able to get another big win on his record. Either way, making Emanuel this happy is one of the biggest wins you can ask for, if you ask me.


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David Haye trains with fake Klitschko jab

Tyson and David Haye laugh together. Well, sort of together.

Wladimir Klitschko's 3 knockdowns on Charles Shufford and Emanuel Steward's early take on Wlad

Military Brat Quote Spotlight, With The Klitschko Brothers

In the English translation version of the 2011 Klitschko documentary, Wladimir and Vitali touched on the many aspects of growing up in the Soviet Union, as military brats. One segment quoted them this way:

Wladimir: "Of course, Vitali was the one who was always getting into trouble. He messed around with lots of things. One time, on a military base, we found some grenades and live ammunition. We threw them into a fire. It made a lot of noise. It was fun. "

Vitali: "One time we found an anti-tank mine. It was a huge disc. I took it home with me and the only place I could find to hide it was under my father's bed. I went to bed and then I heard my father shouting. He came to me and grabbed me by the ear. "He said, "What is that?" I said, "It's a mine." 
"Did you bring it in here?" I said, "Yes."

Wladimir: "Our parents were strict, so he ended up paying for that with a belt on his bottom."


In fairness to Mr. & Mrs. Klitschko, I think a lot of parents would've taken the belt out for sleeping above an anti-tank mine. You've got to find a way to discourage that!



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Wladimir Klitschko's Longevity Spotlight

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Vitali takes opponent Kevin Johnson's sunglasses, and he threatens to de-pants him.

Vitali fights in kickboxing match in Japan at the age of 22

Vitali Klitschko VS Ryūshi Yanagisawa (Kickboxing): GIF Spotlight

Above is a 22-year-old version of then future Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Vitali Klitschko, versus Ryūshi Yanagisawa, the twenty-seventh of November, 1993, in a kickboxing match. The poor fellow he's smacking around is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer and this is in Japan, as I understand it. A big, bad, mayoral man is Vitali Klitschko. I'm glad he converted.


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Vitali takes opponent Kevin Johnson's sunglasses, and he threatens to de-pants him.

Sergey Kovalev's crude and rude gesture to the Welsh people

Lennox Lewis teaches Deontay Wilder how to jab

Vitali Klitschko, Thief and Involuntary Near-Flasher: GIF Spotlight

In December of 2009, Vitali Klitschko was set to defend his major heavyweight title against undefeated Kevin Johnson. Johnson, a well-used sparring partner of this era, was coming in on the back of a knockout of undefeated former Olympian Devin Vargas. Vitali had been on an eleven fight streak, going 10-1, mostly for a major world title, stretching back and through a retirement to 2001, without going the distance once when he fought Johnson. Johnson broke the streak by going the distance while fighting so defensively that he likely broke the record for least power punches thrown over 12 in heavyweight title fight history.

This funny exchange during their weigh-in, with Vitali acting like a tormenting big brother, stealing Johnson's sunglasses and Johnson threatening to pull his pants down was overseen by younger brother Wladimir Klitschko, who probably recognised something similar to what he grew up doing. This clip was played on n-TV as you can see from the GIF and Johnson got more action in it than he did during the actual fight.


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