Former Klitschko Opponent Recalls Their Fight — Didn’t Know If He Was Facing Wladimir or Vitali

Former heavyweight boxer Julius Francis has reflected on his fight against Vitali Klitschko, which took place in the spring of 1998. Vitali stopped Francis in the second round — but before stepping into the ring, Francis thought he was preparing for the other Klitschko brother.

“When I was getting ready to fight Klitschko, I didn’t even know who he was. I didn’t care — I just wanted to fight. If my manager said, ‘You’re fighting on this date,’ then I trained and fought. Did we know much about him? Not really. Was I nervous? Not really. That’s how my whole career went.

He didn’t look like the guy on the poster — I thought it was his brother.”

Francis says he believed he was preparing for Wladimir Klitschko, but in the ring stood Vitali. In his view, it didn’t change anything — a fight is a fight.

“He hits hard. His height didn’t scare me. I planned to go to the body and get close, so his reach didn’t bother me — but closing the distance was hard.”

And then came the punch that ended everything:

“When he hit me… Before I got up, I looked around to see who had just come into the ring. I literally thought someone walked up behind me and hit me in the back of the head. That’s what I honestly believed.”

Throughout his career, Francis faced the likes of Danny Williams, Mike Tyson, Alex Schulz and others. He retired with a record of 23-24-1 (12 KO).