Pretoria - Heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko has said Corrie Sanders made him the boxer that he was today, paying tribute to the murdered South African boxing legend.
Talking exclusively to Eyewitness News, Kitschko said he would never forget the impact that Sanders had on his career.
Klitschko is the current International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organisation and World Boxing Organisation heavyweight champion.
He famously lost to Sanders in 2003.
“Actually, I appreciate him more because he made me the boxer that I am today. The loss against him changed a side of my character tremendously, it made me tougher and it made me better.
“Without my experience with Corrie, I wouldn’t be the same way. Before and after the Corrie Sanders fight, nobody beat me the way he did.
“I have nothing bad to say about Corrie at all.”
He said Sanders’s death was a tremendous loss that would be felt far and wide in the boxing community.
Talking exclusively to Eyewitness News, Kitschko said he would never forget the impact that Sanders had on his career.
Klitschko is the current International Boxing Federation, International Boxing Organisation and World Boxing Organisation heavyweight champion.
He famously lost to Sanders in 2003.
“Actually, I appreciate him more because he made me the boxer that I am today. The loss against him changed a side of my character tremendously, it made me tougher and it made me better.
“Without my experience with Corrie, I wouldn’t be the same way. Before and after the Corrie Sanders fight, nobody beat me the way he did.
“I have nothing bad to say about Corrie at all.”
He said Sanders’s death was a tremendous loss that would be felt far and wide in the boxing community.