Recently, Vitali Klitschko was quoted saying that he wants to get one more belt, hopefully within one fight, after which he promises retirement. If that were to happen, a lot of things will instantly change for boxing’s heavyweight division. Most of the changed will be devastating, making heavyweight boxing an embarrassment.
For a while now, the brothers Klitschko have been dominating in their weight division. Some see them as boring, making the fights very one dimensional with no climax to the fight. For most part, I can agree with that idea and thought. Nevertheless, say what you say, they are effective and have a decent knockout percentage (Vitali with over 90% KO, and Wladimir with nearly 84% KO rate).
If we look at the heavyweight division without the Klitschkos, we will see something disturbing. The top fighters such as Ruslan Chagaev, Sultan Ibragimov, Calvin Brock, Eddie Chambers, Chris Arreola, and Kevin Johnson will be the ones left to make the heavyweight division’s future. Are they exciting? Are they effective? Are they high output fighters? The answer is no to all of the above mentioned questions (although I have to say that Arreola did impress me in the ring against Vitali I September 2009). What kind of fight would we the fans have if Kevin Johnson fought Calvin Brock? Or if Chagaev fought Arreola? Maybe they would be decent fights, but declaring a top dog with a roster like that would be nearly impossible. None of those names spark the word “undisputed” in me.
While many fans think that boxing would be a little more exciting without the Klitschkos, I happen to think the opposite. Boxing is all about one or two dominating fighters, proving themselves over and over, ending up facing each other in the ring. And that’s where the only problem comes in. Vitali will not fight Wladimir, and that’s that. So with the brothers, we will always have two champions instead of one, and will never get to find out who the number one heavyweight champion was.
Vitali mentioned politics as his future career. It seem that the astonishing fame and power athletes get makes them believe they can change more than the score against their opponent, but that they are fully capable of changing their homeland’s state of being. Manny Paquiao was trying to follow Vitali’s footsteps, but also ended up coming up short of his political victory. I have seen Vitali involved in political debates, and I must say, his boxing definitely carried over to the political side of the fence. He was aggressive, violent, loud and obnoxious. All those attributes would be put to a better use in the ring. I guess what I am trying to say, is that it’s not the right time for Vitali to leave boxing. There are still a couple of good fights left in him, and we need him to clean out the unworthy contenders to make room for the young hungry boxers.
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