On March 21st, 2009, WBC Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko will defend his title against the Cuban Juan Carlos Gomez at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, Germany. It will be Vitali Klitschko¡¯s first title defense after his convincing comeback in October 2008, when he won back the WBC belt. Gomez is number 1 in the WBC rating and the official challenger.
35 year old Gomez, a southpaw with a height of 1,92m (6¡Ç 3¨ö¡È), was born in Havanna and is a professional boxer since 1995. ¡°The Black Panther¡± started his career us a Cruiserweight, where he became WBC Champion in 1998. After successfully defending his title 10 times, he changed to Heavyweight in 2002. Having won the elimination bout against Vladimir Virchis in September 2008, Gomez became the mandatory challenger of WBC Champion Vitali Klitschko. Gomez has a professional record of 44 wins (35 KOs) and one defeat.
¡°I am sorry for Vitali that he has to give away his belt after such a short time, but I¡¯ve worked hard to get this fight and I will go home with the belt¡±, says Gomez..
In October 2008, after 1400 days of retirement, Vitali Klitschko the ¡°Champion Emeritus¡± won back his ¡°old¡± belt in an impressive comeback against Champion Samuel Peter by TKO in round 8. Together with legends like Muhammad Ali, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis, Klitschko is one of the few boxers in history, who were able to win a heavyweight belt three times. Klitschko was WBO Heavyweight Champion from 1999 until 2000 and WBC Heavyweight Champion from 2004 until 2005. He has a professional record of 36 wins (35 Kos) and two defeats due to injury.
¡°My triumph against Peter and the feeling of having won back my WBC title is indescribable. I won¡¯t give it back. Gomez is a very experienced, fast and difficult opponent. I won¡¯t underestimate him, but the belt will remain in the Klitschko family¡±, says the current champion.
The fight on March 21st, 2009 at the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart will be broadcast in Germany live and exclusive on RTL.
Ticket sale starts soon.