Larry Brown Sports

Wladimir Klitschko and Hayden Panettiere have finally gotten back together, and now a report says the two are secretly engaged.

Klitschko and Panettiere began dating in 2009 and split up in 2011. Though they have not confirmed that they are back together, gossip outlets have said that they reconciled in January. The two have been photographed together multiple times in recent months, which seems to confirm their relationship.

Now US Weekly says they are secretly engaged.

“Very few people know, and she isn’t wearing her ring publicly yet,” a source told US Weekly.

The source also told US Weekly that the “Heroes” and “Nashville” star is planning her wedding, which they say should be happening during the summer.

Despite their differences on the surface — Panettiere is 23 years old and 5-foot-2, while Wladimir, a world champion heavyweight boxer, is 6-foot-6 and 37 — the two seem to have strong feelings for each other.

The recent news of actress Hayden Panettiere breaking up with heavyweight boxer Wladimir Klitschko has been accompanied by some Dirty Sanchez speculation. No, I’m talking about Mark Sanchez and Hayden now dating.  In typical athlete/celebrity couple fashion, Sanchez denied the rumors in an interview with NFL.com. It’s possible the Jets quarterback is also concerned about getting his face pounded by Klitschko, but in any event we’re happy to see he’s moved on from 17-year-old millionaires to wealthy women who are actually old enough to be granted access to a night club in America.

Rumor Fix via Terez Owens was able to capture a few photos of Panettiere and Sanchez hanging out, albeit at an In-N-Out Burger in Southern California.  As far as we know there was no sign of Tim Lincecum, so the Giants hurler must have been between meals at the time.  Of course, there’s always the possibility that the two are just good friends.  Doubt it.  For all of the pictures of Mark Sanchez with Hayden Panettiere check out Rumor Fix.

After a two year relationship, Hayden Panettiere and Wladimir Klitschko have decided to call things quits according to People Magazine. Hayden, whose last name amazingly is harder to spell than Wladimir’s, told the mag “Even though we’ve decided splitting up is best for both of us, we have an amazing amount of love and respect for each other and remain very close friends.” Klitschko meanwhile cited their long distance as an obstacle too difficult to overcome in their relationship.

We always found it extremely difficult to believe the two were dating since the day we first posted a picture of them together in January, 2010. Let’s put aside Hayden’s 5’2″ status and Wladimir’s gigantic 6’5″ frame — hey, we’ve seen Chris Bosh and his wife together, it’s pretty similar — but this was just one of the oddest couples possible.

First off, how did they even meet? I could see Hayden and some other Hollywood actor being together, or maybe even an athlete. But a Ukrainian boxer who many sports fans in America don’t even know? How did that end up happening? It’s so strange that I think it only makes sense that they eventually broke up.

The one downside I’ll admit is that Wlad’s fights now will be slightly less exciting unless he scores a rebound girl as nice as Shane Mosley’s. I’ll also end this post by asking the question many of you have in mind: How weird did it look when the two of them decided to … go out for dinner. Their sheer height and size difference is astonishing!

Fist pound to The Big Lead for the story

Two names I never thought I’d mention together in the same sentence: Hayden Panettiere and Wladimir Klitschko. We’ve long been fans of Hayden since the day she became legal around 26 months ago (not that we’re counting). She always seemed to be a girl who dated the Hollywood type, not athletes. But as TMZ points out thanks to a photo from Pacific Coast News, Panetierre and Klitschko were spotted together in Miami.

I don’t even know what to make of this photo. Are the two dating? Did they vacation together? Do they have the same agent? How in the world is the IBF, IBO, and WBF heavyweight champion who’s so little known by U.S. sports fans known by Hayden Panettiere? What is going on here?