Monday, Nov. 8, 2004 | 9:17 a.m.
Yes, heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko will be the biggest man challenger Danny Williams has faced in his 35-fight career as a professional boxer.
The imposing task Williams has set for himself, though, looms even larger than the muscular 6-foot-8 Ukrainian.
Williams wants to reinvigorate the moribund heavyweight division, he says, to get even casual sports fans in America, Great Britain and beyond excited about the sport's signature weight class, which has fallen onto seemingly perpetual hard times.
"I see this fight as being a real drawn-out battle, a battle between our skills, our fitness, our hearts," Williams said Friday after a news conference at the House of Blues. "I think people will be really excited about it. This is the kind of fight that can get people talking about the heavyweight division again."
Williams (32-3, 27 knockouts) and Klitschko (34-2, 33 KOs) square off Dec. 11 at Mandalay Bay with Klitschko's WBC heavyweight belt at stake. Williams is an underdog of approximately 4-1 in the bout, which will be available on HBO pay per view. The featured undercard fight pits junior welterweights Miguel Cotto (21-0, 17 KOs) and Randall Bailey (28-4, 27 KOs).
A 31-year-old native of Brixton, London, Williams earned the title shot with a fourth-round knockout of Mike Tyson on July 30 in Louisville, Ky.
Williams said he intends to use that victory -- which he scored as a 9-1 underdog -- as a springboard to rejuvenate his division. He acknowledged that's a tall order, considering the list of heavyweight contenders is dotted by names that are largely unfamiliar outside of the hardcore boxing world -- names such as Kali Meehan, Fres Oquendo and, well, Danny Williams.
Although Tyson was coming off a layoff of 1 1/2 years and appears light years removed from his baddest-man days, Williams takes exception to criticism that his knockout in Louisville was an empty one against a shot fighter.
"I find it very disrespectful when people say my victory over Mike Tyson was lucky," Williams said. "I never trained harder than I did for that fight, and I'm working even harder for (the Klitschko) fight.
"I'm working a lot on conditioning, and on being able to take the pain. It's going to be a very tough fight, and I'm going to be ready for it."
Klitschko, 33, of Los Angeles by way of Kiev, Ukraine, watched with mixed emotions as Williams finished off Tyson.
"I was surprised and disappointed at the same time," Klitschko said. "Danny Williams destroyed my dream, which was to fight Mike Tyson. Now I want to show everyone I'm stronger than the man who destroyed Mike Tyson. I want to show everyone I'm stronger than Danny Williams."
Klitschko won the WBC title by stopping Corrie Sanders in eight rounds on April 24 in Los Angeles, one year after losing to Lennox Lewis, then the world heavyweight champ, when the fight was halted after the sixth round because of cuts around Klitschko's left eye.
Klitschko, who was leading Lewis on the judges' scorecards, was denied a rematch when Lewis retired from boxing.
"I know from my experience that it is very difficult to take a title, and even more difficult to defend a title," Klitschko said. "I'll try to keep the world title for as long as possible."
December 11 marks Klitschko's first fight in Las Vegas as a professional boxer, though he recalls winning a championship bout here in 1991 as an amateur kickboxer.
"At that time Las Vegas was really small," Klitschko said. "There was no Mandalay Bay, no MGM. Now it's a huge city. Las Vegas was always a lucky city for me -- not for gambling -- and I always take good emotions back home."
Williams said to toughen up for Klitschko, who's some 9 inches taller than Tyson, he's mixing it up with -- and knocking out -- sparring partners who stand 6-foot-6.
The former British Commonwealth champion also draws inspiration from his favorite fighter of the past, an American working-class hero, Rocky Marciano. Willliams said he has hours of videotapes featuring Marciano that he watches as part of his routine preparing for the forthcoming fight.
"When Marciano fought Jersey Joe (Walcott), (Ezzard) Charles, guys like that, he showed so much sheer heart that I get goose pimples watching it," Williams said. "Marciano always came into the ring with heart and determination, and that's what I'm going to bring into the ring with me."
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