In professional boxing, the heavyweight fights are the most spectacular, and the champion belt is the most prestigious. Vitali Klitschko, the world champion in this category according to the WBC version, had to defend his title once again on September 8.
The opponent of 41-year-old Klitschko this time was 27-year-old German boxer of Syrian origin Manuel Charr. Before meeting with Vitaly, he had 21 fights and won all of them, and 11 times in the ring ended in a knockout of the opponent. Charr is ranked seventh in the WBC rankings, his first attempt to challenge a world heavyweight title.
Vitali Klitschko is much more experienced than his opponent, in his boxing career before meeting Charr, he had 46 fights, won 44 of them, and won 40 by knockout. Nevertheless, Manuel Charr was a very serious contender; first of all, his youth was on the side of the German boxer. Before the fight, Charr promised his fans to become the new world champion and was ready to fulfill this promise.
Despite loud statements before the fight, Manuel Charr began the fight in a defensive stance, clearly fearing the Ukrainian boxer. Klitschko was also not eager to attack, the world champion had his own reasons. In the second round, the contender for the title noticeably grew bolder and began to attack Klitschko, which the world champion only played into his hands. As Vitaly later admitted, he likes to meet an attacking opponent.
Taking advantage of the opponent's mistakes, Klitschko inflicted several strong blows on Charr in the second round, the German boxer was even knocked down. The third round did not change the picture - the contender for the title of world champion tried to attack, every now and then missing Vitaly's heavy counter strikes.
The fourth round of this fight was the final one - after another hard blow by the Ukrainian boxer, Manuel Charr received a cut under his right eye. The injury was serious enough, so the referee stopped the fight, despite the challenger's protests. The victory by technical knockout was awarded to Klitschko, with which Charr strongly disagreed. After the battle, he stated that he saw fear in the eyes of the Ukrainian and would have won a victory if he were allowed to bring the battle to the end.
Klitschko probably very well understood the state of mind of his opponent, since at one time he lost to Lennox Lewis in the same way. Nevertheless, he could not help him in any way, moreover, he refused to Charr's calls for a rematch. Vitaly's motivation was simple - he said that many athletes want to challenge him. By agreeing to a new fight with Manuel, he will make them wait too long.
One can argue about the spectacle of the fight and the decision of the judge, but the fact that Klitschko won a well-deserved victory is beyond doubt. Until the moment the fight was stopped, he defeated his counterpart not only on points, but also tactically - he managed to impose on Charr the style of fighting he desired. The result was several strong blows missed by the German boxer, while the challenger himself did not manage to break through the Klitschko defense at least once. This could be judged by the faces of the athletes - Manuel Charr with bruises and bleeding under his eye and a completely fresh smiling Klitschko. Nevertheless, Vitaly paid tribute to his rival, noting that in the future he has every chance of becoming a world champion.
