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Klitschko appears ready for U.S. heavyweights, market.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)
Publication: Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service Publication Date: 30-JUN-02 Author: Fernandez, Bernard
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COPYRIGHT 2002 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. _ If this were 1985, the year "Rocky IV" was released amid jingoistic fervor, Wladimir Klitschko's quest to gain favor with Evil Empire-hating American audiences would be far more difficult than the task he is undertaking now.
But the Soviet Union has broken up, the Cold War has thawed and yesterday's Iron Curtain enemies are today's free-market allies in the war against terrorism. At the very least, the reformed Soviets increasingly are intrigued by the financial possibilities of capitalism. It is a brave new world in which a Ukrainian heavyweight named Wladimir Klitschko, son of a one-time Soviet Air Force colonel, can flourish not only with the WBO, but in the stars-and-stripes-waving land of HBO and MTV.
Instead of the real-life personification of Ivan Drago, "Rocky IV's" Soviet superman who represented our worst fears, the 6-7, 243-pound Klitschko is...
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