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LAS VEGAS. Vitali Klitschko apologizes because he believes his English is not that good. His four-year-old son, he laughs, speaks it better. It doesn’t matter. What Klitschko has to say about the crisis in his native Ukraine comes across perfectly clear. That’s because it comes straight from the heart. “I am not politician. I am sportsman,” Klitschko says. ” But it is very difficult for me, very painful, because of what is happening in my country.” In just two weeks, Klitschko defends his heavyweight title in one of the biggest fights of his career against Mike Tyson conqueror Danny Williams. Right now, though, his mind is a world away from the boxing ring. His country is in turmoil, torn apart by an election many believe was fixed. He wants to be with his brother, Wladimir, on the streets in Kiev, leading rallies for Viktor Yushchenko, the man he believes will bring democracy to Ukraine. Wladimir, a heavyweight contender himself, flew to Ukraine last week to join the protests over the election. Vitali wanted badly to go himself, and had to be talked out of canceling his fight.
Now he’s in a boxing gym in Los Angeles, trying his best to concentrate on his task at hand while worrying constantly about what is going on at home. His brother calls hourly with updates, and Yushchenko himself called a few days ago to thank him for his support. Klitschko may live in Los Angeles, but what he says matters in Ukraine, where he and Wladmir are the biggest sports heroes in a country of forty-eight million. “We are very popular sportsmen in Ukraine and our opinion is very important to people. That’s why we must speak out,” Klitschko said. “Ukraine is our future. What happens with the country is very important to us.”
To understand how passionate the Klitschko’s are about democracy in Ukraine requires knowing a bit about the two mammoth heavyweights themselves. The two are not just pugs trying to win popularity in their home country. Both hold advanced university degrees, speak four languages and are active in charities around the world. They had a goal of becoming heavyweight champions together, and still believe it will be realized. Vitali won the WBC title against Corrie Sanders in April after giving Lennox Lewis all he could handle in six rounds before being stopped on cuts.
Wladimir’s career has floundered in recent fights, but he still works his brother’s corner and the two are constantly together. Meeting with a few writers in a New York restaurant two weeks ago to promote the Williams fight, both wore matching bright orange sweaters, the color of Yushchenko’s campaign. They then went to Brighton Beach and met with reporters from the Russian community and made a videotape in support of Yushchenko to smuggle into Ukraine for the few TV stations not muzzled by the government.
For the Klitschkos, democracy has a very special meaning. They grew up in the old Soviet Union, the sons of a Soviet Army helicopter pilot who now serves in Ukraine’s armed forces. They remember what it was like before Ukraine became independent and no one was able to express their opinions. They’re afraid that unless the election of pro-Kremlin candidate Viktor Yanukovych is overturned, the old ways will return. “Everybody was afraid to say anything before,” Klitschko said. “Now, our government tries to turn back to the same system like it was in the Soviet Union.”
On Saturday, Ukraine’s parliament declared the election invalid, raising hopes among the Klitschkos and the Ukrainian communities in the United States that a new vote would be held. The move isn’t binding, but it is a sign that the mass demonstrations and pressure from Western governments are having an effect. Klitschko still worries not only about the prospects for democracy, but how people from outside Ukraine will view his country. “For me it is a little difficult to explain because my vocabulary in English is not too bright,” he said. “But I know how many problems Ukraine has and how painful it is to read about my country like it was a banana republic.”
Instead of calling off the Dec. 11 fight against Williams in Las Vegas, Klitschko hopes to use it as a world stage to rally support for Yushchenko and for the rebirth of democracy in his country. “I was very close to canceling the fight, but we want to bring the message in my fight to the world about what is going on in Ukraine,” Klitschko said. “I want to use this to show everybody that there should be no dictator, just democracy in Ukraine.”
He also wants the world to know more about his birthplace, a country that emerged from the breakup of the Soviet Union and lies strategically between Russia and the West. “It is a very good country with open people with big hearts,” Klitschko said. “It has a very great future.” If it does, some of the credit might go to a champion with a big heart of his own.
