On June 21, 2003, a 31-year-old Vitali Klitschko (32-1, 31 KOs) got a shot at the heavyweight WBC and The Ring title held by 37-year-old British boxer Lennox Lewis (40-2-1, 31 KOs).
Klitschko came in to the fight on a 5-fight win streak with a 93% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 6 months and 29 days. Lewis was on a 2-fight win streak with a 72% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 1 year and 13 days.
Lennox Lewis stopped Vitali Klitschko via TKO in the 6th round of the 12-round world-title fight, and successfully defended his WBC and The Ring heavyweight titles. Lewis improves his record to 41-2-1 (32 KOs), while Klitschko adds a loss to his record at 32-2.
On April 1, 2000, the 28-year-old WBO heavyweight world champion, Vitali Klitschko (27-0, 27 KOs), faced a 29-year-old American boxer Chris Byrd (30-1, 18 KOs), in a title defense fight.
Klitschko came in to the fight on a 27-fight win streak with a 100% KO rate, and was fighting after a gap of 3 months and 21 days. Byrd was on a 4-fight win streak with a 58% KO rate, and fighting after a layoff of 2 months and 13 days.
The champion refused to continue the fight in the 9th round, and Chris Byrd is crowned the new WBO heavyweight world champion — in his first world-title fight. Byrd improves his record to 31-1 (19 KOs), while Klitschko adds a loss to his record at 27-1.