April 24, 2000

In addition to Lennox Lewis' World Heavyweight Championship defense against Mike Grant on Saturday, April 29, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, the 1996 Olympic gold medallist Wladimir Klitschko, a young 6, 7," 245-pound heavyweight residing out of Hamburg, Germany, will be on the televised portion of the show.

Lewis-Grant, intelligently billed as, "Two Big: 13 Feet, 500 Pounds," will be televised on HBO/TVKO Pay-Per-View at a retail price of $44.95.

Wladimir Klitschko, the younger brother of the now former WBO heavyweight champ, Vitali, who on April 1, quit on his stool after the eighth round against Chris Byrd.

"I'm looking forward to this fight very much because I can prove to the Americans that the criticism against my brother was completely exaggerated and did not match reality. Once Vitali recovered he will show to the boxing fans that Klitschkos can fight. And that's also what I will show next week at Madison Square Garden," Wladimir was reportedly quoted recently in Germany.

At age 24, Wladimir has a built-up record of 32-1, 30KOs. His sole loss was an 11-round, TKO stoppage against Ross Purity, the same fighter whom Byrd defeated (W 10) in July 1998.

Since his loss to Purity, Wladimir has won his last eight bouts by knockout - including an eighth-round stoppage of German Axel Schultz. Schultz is the same fighter who lost three straight world heavyweight championship opportunities against George Foreman (L 12), Frans Botha (L 12), and Michael Moorer (L 12) several years ago.

Wladimir will meet 28-year-old, David Bostice (22-1-1, with 12 knockouts).

Also on the card, Brooklyn's hometown son, Junior Jones challenges Paul Ingle for his IBF featherweight crown. Plus, former world champ, Arturo Gatti will be in action.