MSC2025 and Boxing

I attended the “Trump 2.0 - A global challenge, Europe’s moment of destiny?" panel at the Amerikahaus München.

Trouble is, MSC has over 200 side events and that means you’re jumping from building to building with security at each venue and various checkpoints on the road. For me, arriving early is important.

Unfortunately, my colleague and I ended up arriving late for the 5PM local start time and one hour panel discussion. I was directed to enter through the door and stand, no more seats were available.

I entered and heard the iconic voice - a voice I’ve known since the early 2000s.

26 years ago...

You see, I’ve been a boxing fan for decades. I’ve actually met Wladimir Klitschko several times at boxing events. I’m a super fan of his older brother, Vitali.

Vitaly defeated Herbie Hide in June of 1999 in the UK to win the WBO heavyweight title in an impressive 2nd round KO. He then lost the WBO title to Chris Byrd on April 1, 2000 in Berlin… that’s right, I remember this because it’s April fools. Vitali was ahead on the cards. I was cheering for him - always have.

In fact, the two losses Vitali suffered in his entire boxing career were only due to the fight doctor stopping the fight, a TKO. Both times he was ahead on the cards. In my mind, he’s always been undefeated.

Vitali’s style of fighting was very different. His hands would normally be down at his hips showing that he’s extremely comfortable defending your punch. Telling his opponent “your punch is too slow” and that “not only can I slip it, but I can lift my hand and parry or block faster than you can reach extension.”

I knew him as Dr. Ironfist.

Six months after the Vitali's first TKO, his brother Wladimir Klitschko fought Chris Byrd, and with a 12 round UD, in my eyes and many more, vindicated his brother’s TKO.

I knew Wladimir as Dr. Steelhammer.

Boxing has been a part of my life since late high school. I was a bantamweight. As my life in boxing continued, I made many friends. Many of those friends traveled and moved, some promoters, some boxers.

I got to meet people like Mike Tyson, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Tommy Hearns, Gerry Cooney, Sugar Ray Leonard, Roy Jones Jr (Jonsey), Andre Ward, Julio Cesar Chavez, Julio Cesar Chavez Jr, so many more. A few of them remain friends today.

I grew up in a time where heavyweight belts and titles were the most coveted. Names like Evander Holyfield, Muhammad Ali, Mike Tyson, Larry Holmes, Jerry Cooney, Buster Douglas, Joe Fraser, Ernie Shavers, and more were on the tip of my tongue and watching them was my priority.

Back in the early 2000s, after Lennox Lewis defeated Mike Tyson in an 8th round KO, the US decided to shift the focus to the welterweight title, claiming heavyweight isn’t really a big deal anymore [because the US didn’t have a heavyweight contender]. The heavyweight bouts were being held in Germany and the UK, and the Klitschko brothers held all the belts, holding a promise to their mother that they would never fight each other in the ring.

The US really didn’t care about Eastern boxers, and did their utmost to remove any attention from them. I remember trying to convince my friends to come back to the heavyweights, telling them how much I enjoy watching the Klitschko brothers dominate the field - yes, they did for 11 years!!

I’m such a big fan, I was sitting ringside near the red corner watching Vasily Lomachenko fight his first professional bout in Las Vegas in Oct 2013 at the Thomas and Mack Center, cheering him on with Julio Cesar Chavez Jr behind me as he beat Orlando Salido in a welterweight (147 lbs) bout where Orlando weighed in +20 lbs over the limit!

Back to the 2025 Munich Security Conference...

Fast forward to Feb 14, 2025, and you can imagine my multitude of emotions when I saw Dr. Steelhammer on stage. As more panelist were added, they stood up from front row to take their chairs on stage. It freed up front row seats in a theater that was packed.

I watched one lady also standing, walk over in a hurry to sit down, taking one of the seats of the panelists. In the middle of panelists stepping up to the stage, and my heartbeat racing with memories of boxing life, I build up the courage to quickly go sit down next to her.

Mesmerized, sitting in front of a boxing legend, I don’t see Ukraine, I don’t see European leaders on stage, I’m focused on the legend, Dr. Steelhammer.

A German fellow sitting behind me kept looking over my shoulder. I had taken pictures like many others, so I didn’t understand why he cared. A lady in the row behind him, reached over and tapped my shoulder, waving her finger as to say no. When I look back at them, I was confused why they cared. You see nobody cared for these brothers back when I was a fan. Today, I’m not allowed to take pictures and revel in the moment, while others next to me and all over the theatre can?

I looked down and I realize the empty seat next to me has a name: Dr. Klitschko. The weirdest feeling set in for me - I felt like I was ringside again, watching bouts up close.

At the end of the entire panel session, during the chaos of applause, I took my card and wrote: “A fan of yours since the 90s. Keep up with your guard, you got this, I see it in you,” and dropped it on his chair as I got up and walked to the door from which I came in.

What the general public doesn't realize about boxing...

1. You don’t box because you enjoy it, you box because you must.

2. You stand in front of someone who is prepared to kill you, and you must have the mental strength to step in as they throw combinations in your direction, and maybe they are “playing dirty” too.

3. You know what it feels like to have your kidney rupture from a body punch, and the signals that run up your spine into your brain telling you to "lie down, you are going to lose your body fluids, this is a good place to die," meanwhile, you’re doing everything you can to remain standing.

4. You know the word resiliency very well, because you’ve been knocked down, and you know to take time, but not too much, waiting the 10 count to stand up and fight again.

5. You know that nobody helps you when you’re eating out of a straw, healing for weeks-to-months after the fight with a broken jaw.

6. You see your bout as a chess match, divided into rounds, learning your opponent, getting them used to your movement and combinations, only to fool them with surprise changes, searching for their weakness, creating opportunities.

In the end...

Indeed, Europeans and the political/policy world feel a bond to the celebrity that he has become.

I have a bond with the boxer.

I know what it’s like to sit in the corner thinking: nobody’s on my side except me, my coach doesn’t think I can win, my cut man can’t patch me up… but I came here to fight, I’m not giving up.

I know the Klitschko brothers took up boxing because their life was hard as a children in the Soviet Union. I know how easy it is to regress into the child that you once were, putting on a persona of being strong, yet feeling the most alone - a feeling that we are all sensing for Ukraine and hopefully also for the more than 120 armed conflicts underway around the world.

Unfortunately, the fellow sitting behind me found it important to tell someone, and took away the card.

A close friend and psychologist simplified these three words for me: sympathy, empathy, and compassion. She said "Sympathy is when someone tells you of their pain and you can't take it so you leave. Empathy is when you hear their pain and you must tell them of your unresolved pain. Compassion is simply listening intently acknowledging their pain. Most people are incapable of compassion."

I believe the most compassionate people are the ones who have suffered. They know what it’s like and don’t wish it on anyone else. I really hope the German fellow who was sitting behind me and the German lady in the row behind him find happiness in their respective lives.

#boxing #toprank #hbo #heavyweight #welterweight #bantamweight #brokenjaw #msc #munich #mu?nchen