LOS ANGELES -- Vitali Klitschko likes to say that he ventured to this city of dreamers because he loves the weather, appreciates its diversity, and old friends from his native Ukraine also live here. But the real reason heavyweight contender is here is because he wants to make it big (even though he's pretty damn big already).

He's no different from all the other dreamers who moved here with stars in their eyes -- the actor waiting tables or the script writer working at Starbucks -- but where their big break has yet to come, Klitschko's dream came true over the weekend when Lennox Lewis agreed to fight him after heavyweight champ's original opponent for a June 21st title defense at the STAPLES Center fell out.

"The situation developed very fast," Klitschko said of the recent events that led to his shot at Lewis. Kirk Johnson, the original opponent for Lewis, pulled a chest muscle in sparring last week and had to pull out of the fight. Klitschko, who was preparing to face Cedric Boswell in the co-featured bout of the HBO-televised card, was asked if he could step up and replace the injured Johnson. Lewis agreed over the weekend to face Klitschko, the no. 1 contender to the WBC title he holds, and the bout's promoters didn't have to twist Klitschko's arm to agree to the bout.

So Lewis-Klitschko, a fight HBO had hoped to build into a pay-per-view showdown late this year, will happen in less than two weeks.

"STAPLES wanted it. HBO wanted it. I have wanted this fight for four years," Klitschko told MaxBoxing.com before a Monday afternoon workout. "I was ready to fight. I'm in good shape. My manager called me and asked me what I thought of the fight. All I said was 'I'm ready'."

However, most experts don't believe the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Ukrainian will ever be ready for Lewis, who is generally recognized as the best fighter in a mediocre division. The heir apparent to Lewis was supposed to be Klitschko's younger brother, Wladimir, the '96 Olympic champion who was knocked out in shocking fashion earlier this year by unheralded Corrie Sanders. The upset loss of Klitschko's younger brother -- who is viewed as the more talented of the two -- seemed to further diminish his reputation that was already damaged by a 2000 loss to the undersized Chris Byrd.

Klitschko is well aware of the skepticism that many fans -- particularly those in America -- have for him but he says he relishes the role of the underdog.

"I know not very many people believe I can do this," Klitschko, 32-1 (31), said in his best English, his fourth language behind Ukrainian, Russian and German. "But I want to send this message to them and to Lennox, who promised that he would knock me out: 'Lennox, I want to make the same promise to you, I'm not going to give you a chance to knock me out.'"

Though one has to admire his self-confidence, the only shot most observers give Klitschko to beat Lewis is that of the puncher's chance -- the very remote possibility that the giant Ukrainian will get lucky enough to land the perfect punch to the champion's suspect chin and put him down for the count. The way most skeptical fans see it, Klitschko has big right hand and that's pretty much it. He doesn't have the experience or skills that Lewis possesses and he probably doesn't have the greatest chin in the world.

The public won't know how good Klitschko's chin is until someone tests it, but his record indicates that he hasn't fought the same quality of opposition Lewis has faced over the years, and to most eyes, his boxing technique leaves something to be desired.

MaxBoxing was privileged to sit in on a few of Klitschko's workouts around the L.A. area over the past five weeks -- mainly at the Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood and the nearby La Brea Boxing Academy in the Wilshire District of the city. At first glance, it did not look as though Klitschko would bring much to the ring.

Watching Klitschko shadow box is like spying on an awkwardly tall and un-coordinated teenager who is trying too hard to pick up the fundamentals of boxing after about a week of instruction. Everything he does looks wrong. He pushes his jab. There's no snap to his punches, which are seldom thrown straight. His balance often looks off, as if he could fall and twist his ankle at any given moment. Every movement is overly methodical. There is no fluidity at all.

If you wanted to be mean to Klitschko you could say that he has no rhythm. If you want to be nice to the big man -- which is very easy to do because both he and his brother are giant sweethearts -- you could say that he has a "different" rhythm from most seasoned fighters, including his brother.

Klitschko will tell you that he has his "own rhythm". And he adds that it is his "secret weapon" against all of his opponents.

"My style is different from my brother's, he has more of an orthodox style. I'm not orthodox," he told MaxBoxing. "But my style is my strength. Many opponents underestimate me because of this. They say it looks ugly, or it looks clumsy, but it works. I have 31 knockouts in my 32 wins, and all 31 were surprised."

Klitschko smiles a great big toothy grin when he says this. He says he's got more to offer than just a big a right hand, but if that's all his critics or his future opponents see, than that only benefits him.

His sparring partners know first hand what he has to offer.

"His right hand and his awkward style is enough for him beat anybody in the world right now," said former WBA heavyweight titlist Tony Tubbs, who has served as a sparring partner and an in-the-ring "technical advisor" for both Klitschkos for almost seven years. "Lennox has better experience, but he's not a young man any more, and with his being off for a year, I think this kid (Klitschko) is safe.

"The way he looks when he fights, your eyes tell you one thing, but then you feel somethin' different once you in the ring with him. You think you got him, but you don't."

At 45, Tubbs, one of the craftier heavyweights of the '80s, only works one round a day with Klitschko and leaves the hard ring work to the younger, stronger sparring partners. But Tubbs helps Klitschko work on the finer points of his game -- footwork, feints, judging distance and adding different degrees to his jab.

"He's learning how to throw an up-jab now. He can be sneaky when he wants to," Tubbs said with pride.

Not that Klitschko plans to sneak around Lewis when the two are in the ring together.

"Lewis is probably going to go right at him like he did Golota and some of them other big guys," said Preston Hartzog, a 6-foot-5, 270-pound young heavyweight from New Orleans who has sparred two rounds with Klitschko, four days a week for the past four weeks. "If Lewis does that, he'll get a fight. Vitali will give it right back. And I don't care how seasoned a pro you are, against awkward fighters, all boxers have trouble. Lewis is no different.

"Vitali's awkward style is absolutely his biggest weapon in this fight."

Klitschko agrees with that assumption, but not with the description of his fighting style.

"It's not an awkward style. It's my style. It's too late for me to change it and I don't want to change it," Klitschko told MaxBoxing. "It is a mixed style."

It's a fighting style that is mixed between boxing and kickboxing, he says.

Klitschko started boxing and kickboxing around the same time, at age 14. His younger brother, then only nine years old, followed him to the boxing gym and seemed to pick up the boxing fundamentals a lot quicker than he did.

"I trained in boxing only twice a week," Klitschko said. "It was just a hobby. I started full-contact karate at same time and improved very quickly. Before I know it, I am winning city title, then national, then world amateur title."

So while the big brother advanced in kickboxing, the little brother advanced at boxing. But Klitschko never left Sweet Science. He did both sports at the same time, even turning pro at kickboxing while he was a top world amateur in boxing during the mid-90s.

"I won '91 world amateur title in kickboxing, then I turned pro and won ISKA organization's world title in '92," Klitschko said. "In '95, I won silver medal in world amateur boxing tournament and I was ranked no. 1 in world before '96 Olympics. The plan was for me to win gold medal at super heavyweight and for Wladimir to win gold medal at 201 pounds. But the winter before Olympics, I was disqualified from competition because of testing positive for banned substance.

"I had a leg problem -- an old kickboxing injury in my calf that needed operation -- but I went to regular doctor, not sports doctor, and he gave me steroid for healing that was banned," explained Klitschko, whose place on the Ukrainian Olympic boxing team was taken by his brother, who won the gold medal at super heavyweight at the '96 Games.

It wasn't the first time Klitschko's kickboxing career got in the way of his boxing development.

"From the start, when we were in boxing school in Kiev, the head coach would tell me and everyone in gym 'That's all wrong!'," Klitschko said. "He told me this. He made example of me in front of everyone. He told me and the team that I would never make it because of the way I fight."

Was the mean old coach of the Ukrainian amateur boxing school right? Maybe. Maybe not.

As bad as Klitschko's style looks when he shadow boxes, it is actually quite affective in the ring. On Monday, at the La Brea Boxing Academy, he sparred six rounds with Hartzog, Tubbs, William Phillips (a small heavyweight, but an athletic-looking fighter from Florida) and Corey Sanders (the 6-foot-6, 290-pound fringe contender NOT to be confused with the South African southpaw who stopped Klitschko's brother). Against the Hartzog, in the early rounds of the session, Klitschko used his jab and a straight right to the body to keep the youngster at a safe distance and at the end of his heavy punches. Klitschko punished the tough young man with three-punch combinations at the end of both rounds they worked together.

Against Tubbs, for one round, Klitschko boxed a more relaxed pace, working on feinting the older man with the herky jerky style out of position to land well-timed jabs to the chest and head. Against Phillips, who has a 22-2 (20) record against nondescript opponents, for one round, Klitschko fought entirely on the inside against the physically strong, shorter man, shortening up on all of his punches.

By the time the massive Sanders entered the ring (stepping over the top rope like a giant baby climbing into his playpen) for two rounds of sparring, Klitschko was in full mode, and boxing -- well, beautifully, if you care to believe that -- bouncing on his toes, landing quick one-two combinations and sneaky, lead right hands. Klitschko also exhibited a solid defense and nimble footwork, circling the bigger man clockwise and counter-clockwise, side stepping his rushes and slipping all of Sanders' loaded-up right hands.

Klitschko worked two more rounds with his brother without headgear, only punching each other's gloves. This practice focused solely on slipping and countering specific punches. Klitschko looked sharp.

Is he sharp enough to unseat Lewis? Who knows if a unique style backed by a good right hand is enough to beat a future hall-of-fame heavyweight champ. But the desire is there.

"I still feel my old coach's words," Klitschko told MaxBoxing after a workout at the Wild Card gym, before taping the first of a series of video interviews one month ago. "He hurt my ego. His words were my motivation for all these years. No one ever believed in my future in this sport. I always wanted to show him and to show them that what he said was not true."

He will get his big chance on June 21.

For an exclusive training documentary with Klitschko, check out this link on Maxboxing.com.