Klitschko.com - English

Vitali Klitschko Dominates In Ratings As Well As In The Ring

LOS ANGELES (Oct. 2, 2009) – Vitali Klitschko’s dominating defense of his World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight _title_ over No. 1 ranked challenger Cristobal Arreola on Sept. 26 on HBO drew the highest rating of 2009 for an HBO World Championship Boxing telecast. Klitschko-Arreola scored higher ratings than Antonio Margarito and Shane Mosley’s welterweight world _title_ fight and the Juan Diaz-Juan Manuel Marquez bout for the linear lightweight championship..

"We are happy to have brought this fight to the US, where Vitali received the highest rating of the year for HBO World Championship Boxing,” said Tom Loeffler, Managing Director, K2 Promotions. “This shows that the boxing fans were craving a great heavyweight matchup and eagerly awaiting Vitali’s return to HBO.”

HBO viewers had waited nearly five years to see Klitschko return to the premium network and responded in numbers. Klitschko’s last fight on HBO World Championship Boxing was a second round TKO over Kirk Johnson in December 2003. His last fight on HBO PPV was an eighth round TKO victory over Danny Williams in December, 2004, his final fight before a four year retirement due to injury.

The Klitschko-Arreola fight, which was shown in more than 100 countries worldwide, also dominated the international market.

"Vitali's fight was also shown live in Germany and received a 52 percent share of the market, the highest rated program at that time slot," said Bernd Boente, Managing director, KMG.

The _title_ defense was Klitschko’s second successful victory over a No. 1 contender since winning the WBC _title_ from champion emeritus Samuel Peter in October, 2008. Klitschko followed up the Peter victory with a ninth-round TKO of No. 1 challenger Juan Carlos Gomez before he scored a 10th round TKO over No. 1 contender Arreola on Saturday.

You welcome Sunshine. Could use some of your own pic's here again.

Sorry Krazylegs82, I haven't loaded any new photos on my Flickr account because of computer issues and time