Klitschko-Rahman trade words

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<TD =article align=left colSpan=3>Vitali Klitschko and Hasim Rahman were originally supposed to fight in April for Klitschko's World Boxing Council heavyweight championship. Then it was supposed to happen in June.


But Klitschko had an injury that took some time to diagnose. He's better now, and he and Rahman will square off for the WBC belt Nov. 12 at Thomas &amp; Mack Center in Las Vegas.


At a news conference Monday at the Beverly Hills Hotel to formally announce the fight, Klitschko, who had minor back surgery to repair a nerve, let Rahman and the press know how upset he was at Rahman's name-calling during the time Klitschko and his doctors were trying to identify his injury.


Originally, he was thought to have a thigh injury. It turned out it was a nerve in the back that goes down the leg.


"He was calling me chicken, saying I didn't want to fight him," said Klitschko, of Beverly Hills via Kiev, Ukraine. "It's not true. It was no respect.


"I was a little bit angry about it. A real man doesn't talk with words, he talks with fists. I'm ready to fight everyone."


Klitschko, 34, is 35-2 with 34 knockouts. He won the championship with an eighth-round technical knockout of Corrie Sanders on April 24, 2004, at Staples Center. He has made one defense, last Dec. 11 in Las Vegas against Danny Williams, whom he also stopped in the eighth round.


Rahmam, 32, of Baltimore, is 41-5-1 with 33 knockouts. While Klitschko was mending, Rahman won the interim WBC belt with a decision
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</TD></TR></T></TABLE>over Monte Barrett on Aug. 13 in Chicago.


"I just hope Klitschko doesn't stub a toe or break a finger so he can't show up Nov. 12," said Rahman, who donned a chef's hat and offered Klitschko a last meal on the dais. "I do feel he can hurt me, though, if I don't bring my A-plus game. So I will be bringing my A-plus game."


Rahman's biggest claim to fame was a fifth-round knockout of Lennox Lewis on April 22, 2001, in South Africa. Rahman took the WBC and International Boxing Federation belts from Lewis, but had them taken back nearly seven months later, on Nov. 17, when he was knocked out by Lewis in the fourth round in Las Vegas.


Klitschko said he will be bringing something else.


"You brought me lunch," Klitschko said to Rahman, "and on Nov. 12, I'm going to bring you dessert."








P.S.This fight is going to be ugly.Rahman should think about retiring after the beating he gets at the hands of Vitali Klitschko.</TD></TR></T></TABLE>
 
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