Wladimir Klitschko, who turns 44 in March, has teased us more than once about the chance, the will-he-won’t-he possibility of his coming back. Having kept himself in fine physical shape, often in the gym working hard, Wladimir recently asked his fans, via social media, what they thought of him coming back to fight Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury in a rematch.
He might be merely playing games with us, or maybe Wlad will become the latest big-name fighter to prove the old adage, ‘they always come back,’ to be true. Will we see a Klitschko comeback in 2020? Would you like to see it?
Talk about a tough question. On the one hand, fight fans, and people in general, love a comeback; the more fairy-tale the better. Yet on the other hand, no-one likes to see a proud former champion embarrassed, beaten up or seriously hurt. So which category would the man who ruled the division for over a decade fall into if he did fight again?
Klitschko – who has said that, in order for him to come back, it would have to be something “historic,” a chance to break George Foreman’s record as the oldest-ever heavyweight champ – would almost certainly take a tune-up fight first if he did come back. A smart guy, Wlad would take said tune-up and then assess how he looked and felt in the fight; which would be his first since November of 2015.
And of course, if Klitschko did manage to roll back the years again and go on from there to regain the crown, well, what a great story it really would be. And how much ink and attention would the sport get as a result. Again, we fight fans love to see a return to glory as much as we love to see a big upset.
But what if Klitschko returned but looked shaky from the get-go and, a badly faded fighter, was beaten up? What if Wladimir, an all-time great, got hammered by either Fury or Joshua? This would result in another big black eye for the sport.
So is it worth the risk? Is rolling the dice a good idea for Wladimir? Would you like to see him try, or should the former champ with nothing to prove (and no money worries) stay where he is, retired? The great Muhammad Ali, no stranger to incredible comebacks, some hugely successful, others not, once said the following: “he who never takes a risk will accomplish nothing in life.”
Should Wladimir Klitschko, 64-5(53) take this, the biggest risk of his boxing career, if not his entire life?