Wladimir Klitschko stood in the ring 69 times during his professional career. The ex-world champion finally climbed 64 times as the winner. The Ukrainian received the most dubious of his five defeats on April 10, 2004 against the American Lamon Brewster. To date, it is not certain whether everything went with right things that evening in Las Vegas.
The signs in front of the duel in the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino around the vacant WBO title were clear: On the one hand, Wladimir Klitschko, a 28-year-old Ukrainian who (apparently) started the next attempt on the box throne in full possession of his strength and boxing skills.
In the other corner, Lamon Brewster, a very successful, technically but technically limited fighter who won 29 of his 31 professional fights before the duel against Klitschko, often only got “falling” in front of his fists.
The spectators in Vegas and in front of the TV screens were accordingly on a short struggle. And Klitschko did everything possible in the first rounds to meet his favorite role. “Dr. Steelhammer” only let the fists fly and covered his overwhelmed opponent with crashing jabs, massive hooks and precise straight lines.
45: 5 hits after two rounds
Already after the second round, the corner of Brewster fleeing the hopelessly inferior outsider: “You must not let him beat, you have to go forward, attack it.” The underdog could not implement the requirements. Up to this point, Klitschko alone had brought 45 Jabs to the finish line, but Brewster only landed five goals.
In the fourth round, the inevitable finally happened: within seconds, two right hammer from Klitschko hit the Kinn of Brewster. The referee Robert Byrd counted until the eight – then Brewster stood again. Klitschko continued to put pressure on his wavering opponents, but Brewster clung as if it were about his life and somehow saved himself into the next break.
Brewster blows into a counterattack
After a short scanning at the beginning of the fifth round, Klitschko set three, four or five violent hits one after the other. The end of the fight seemed to be only a matter of time now. But the Ukrainian did not follow up and gave his opponent to take a deep breath. Brewster used the break and blew 50 seconds before the end of the round to the counterattack.
Two left hooks, a straight and another left hook hit Klitschkos chin out of the blue. The Ukrainian stumbled into the corner, Brewster chased him and continued his beat series. The spectators jumped up and turned the hall into a rabid because of the excitement. “When Klitschko is carved by Lamon Brewster Ko, he should stop boxing,” the US commentators roared euphorically into their microphones.
Klitschko saved himself to the Gong, but when the bell sounded, the heavily battered favorite went to the ground. Klitschko spoke to Byrd, but he didn’t react. The referee was forced to stop the fight immediately. “I wanted an answer from him, but nothing came. In this way, I didn’t have to stop a fight in my entire career,” said Byrd later.
Blood and urine sample disappeared mysteriously
Anyone who thought that the gong should also mean the end of the fight at the end of the fifth round was deceived. Around a month later, Klitschko announced through a lawyer that the defeat should be examined by the authorities. The reason: after the fight, both the urine and the blood sample from Klitschko disappeared mysteriously. The why and where is still unclear.
In keeping with this, there were some unusual developments on the betting market: The quota dropped to a victory of Brewster that Saturday from 11: 1 to 3.5: 1 – a clear sign that someone or several weather had put a large amount of money on a victory of the underdog. Everything coincidence?
After the fight, Klitschko himself said that after the second round he felt “under drugs” and “had legs like rubber”. Speculations about whether Klitschko was stunned, poisoned or actually put under drugs that evening are still held. Other wild conspiracy theories include the Russian mafia, bribery by promoter legend Don King and a diabetes of Klitschko, which is said to have had a negative impact on the fight.
In the end, this resulted in Wladimir Klitschko gave a safe victory and had to give up an opponent whom he took apart three years later (demolition in the sixth round) will probably remain hidden forever.