From the LA Times:
World heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko has been spotted by People magazine lounging on the beach and attending the Golden Globes with “Heroes” star Hayden Panettiere, spending the last month-plus in Los Angeles as he prepares for a busy year of fighting.
In a Wednesday telephone conversation with The Times, Klitschko, 34, said he and Panettiere have enjoyed dining and taking in shows in Hollywood, downplaying the connection at first — “that’s an old story” — but when he was asked if he was in love, he answered, “Yes, I am.”
Inspired to join the A-list?
“As heavyweight champion of the world, I think it’s automatic that I’m already there, right?” Klitschko asked.
Pause.
“I rely on my own
performance to get there, not on gossip,” he said. “It’s all good with us, but I’d like to rely on my own performance to be noticed, not by who I’m with.”
Klitschko (55-3, 49 KOs) would like that notoriety to include a July 2 bout against Britain’s World Boxing Assn. heavyweight champion David Haye,
…
If Haye doesn’t happen, Klitschko said he will fight Poland’s former world cruiserweight champion Tomasz Adamek in September at a new soccer stadium in Poland. If Klitschko-Haye gets made, then it’ll be WBC champion Vitali vs. Adamek.
“We’re a team,” WBO and IBF champion Wladimir said of his brother. “We’ll unify all the heavyweight titles under our family’s name and that’s our goal for this year.”
Klitschko invited his Southland fans to come watch him fight overseas.
“My brother had a day named after him on the official Los Angeles calendar; we both live out here a bit and my girlfriend’s from here,” he said.
What can I say – I’m jealous!