On March 18, a court hearing was held in the Hamburg city court to consider the issue that has become a stumbling block in relations between the Klitschko brothers and the professional boxing club headed by Klaus-Peter Kohl, "Universum Box-Promotion," for which Vitali and Wladimir have been fighting since October 1996. The main disagreement between the Klitschko brothers and their promoter is the end date of the contract between them and the "Universum Box-Promotion" club. \n \nAccording to the position of Vitali and Wladimir, their contract with the "Universum Box-Promotion" club expires on April 30 of this year and does not provide for any extension on their part. Kohl insists that the Klitschko brothers, after the contract expires, must fight several more bouts under his promotion. Klaus-Peter bases his position on the fact that Vitali, due to injuries sustained in April 2000, June 2001 and July 2002, spent almost a year and a half outside the ring, and Wladimir, due to an injury sustained at the end of 2001, was out of contract for just over half a year. On this basis, Klaus-Peter Kohl insists that Wladimir's contract should be extended until October 30, 2004, and Vitali's contract until May 30, 2006. \n \nThe Klitschko brothers' opinion on this matter is unequivocal - a certain number of bouts that they must fight during the year is not stipulated in the contract. If this is so, then April 30 will be the last day of the contract, and already on the first of May Vitali and Wladimir become free from any obligations to "Universum Box-Promotion." \n \nTo establish the truth, the Klitschko brothers and Klaus-Peter Kohl turned to the Higher Arbitration Court of Germany with a request to give a ruling on the contract end date. Simply put, to act as an arbitrator. Negotiations between the parties' lawyers, which had been ongoing since the beginning of this year, continued in the Hamburg city court. The hearing began at 11:15 and lasted just under two hours. The court heard the arguments of the Klitschko brothers' lawyer Sebastian Kernig and the lawyers of "Universum," Peter Rau and Björn Ziegler, but, however, did not issue any decision, recommending that the parties try to reach an agreement once more. At the same time, advising them, so to speak, to choose a "golden mean." \n \nThe court's recommendations were as follows - Wladimir's contract should be extended by 57 days, that is, until June 26. For Vitali, the contract end should come after 183 days, and if counted from April 30, it turns out that the elder Klitschko should become free on October 30 of this year. This proposal by the court was categorically rejected by the lawyers of "Universum," who insisted precisely on those contract expiration terms that had been announced by them earlier. \nThe court hearing ended without an official decision, but with a ruling stating that an official decision on this matter would be issued, and therefore announced, on April 15. \n \nHowever, the press service of "Universum Box-Promotion" has already hastened to announce its victory over Vitali and Wladimir, which is somewhat premature, since the official decision will only be announced on April 15.