Heavyweight boxing has been dominated for decades by the great American fighters—athletes with names like Joe (Louis) and George (Foreman) and, of course, my idol, Muhammad Ali. But like all sports, boxing changes. In 1999 I defeated the Englishman Herbie Hide in a second-round knockout to win the WBO championship, becoming the first fighter from an East European country (Ukraine) to win a title. Since then, America's hold over the heavyweight title has withered, and the new champions have been people like Nikolay Valuev and Oleg Maskaev from Russia; Sergei Liakhovich from Belarus; and the undefeated Ruslan Chagaev from Uzbekistan. In fact, though there are still strong American fighters, Americans have held only five titles since 2004, compared with the 11 held by athletes from the former Soviet Union. It is hardly surprising that the June 20 title fight featured not an American, but Chagaev, against my younger brother, Wladimir, defender of the IBF, WBO and IBO titles.
