More from Davy Rothbart and the Klitschko brothers! On board games, sibling rivalries, and love lives.
Your mother has forbidden the two of you from ever fighting each other in the ring, a request you’ve long honored. But do you guys play chess? Who wins?
Wladimir: Me.
Vitali: Me!
Wladimir Klitschko: Sometimes he has good days, sometimes bad days.
I know how it is. My little brother is way better than me at chess, but I beat him far more than I should. I have his number a little bit.
Vitali: I win at chess. He needs more experience. But at backgammon, my brother is unbeatable.
Do you guys compete with anything else?
Wladimir: Everything!
Vitali: Swimming. Running.
Wladimir: Knowing.
Did you guys ever compete over girls?
Wladimir: I lost, actually. Because he is married and I am not.
No, I meant did you ever compete over one particular girl?
Wladimir: No. We have different tastes, thank God.
What kind of tastes do you have? What kind of women do you look for?
Wladimir: Well, I just recently got single, so I’m chilling out right now. To be serious, we do love to compete, but as kids my brother was always bigger, stronger, and more experienced, so I realized I had no chance if I wrestled him. Now, as adults, we would rather team up with each other against our opponents. It feels great to conquer the heavyweight division and to have all the existing belts.
Davy Rothbart is the creator of Found magazine, editor of the Found books, author of the story collection The Lone Surfer of Montana, Kansas, and a frequent contributor to public radio’s This American Life. He’s also the founder of an annual hiking trip for inner-city kids called Washington II Washington. In November, he’s visiting 15 cities in the Midwest and East Coast on the Found vs. Found tour.
Previously from Davy Rothbart:
What’s Your Deal? With Joseph Gordon-Levitt
What’s Your Deal? With Dominic Fredianelli
What’s Your Deal? With Bismack Biyombo