The Conspiracy To Screw Vitali Klitschko

By Scoop Malinowski

06.03 - Vitali Klitschko was in the perfect position on Sunday morning. He's the number one contender for Lennox Lewis' WBC and Roy Jones' WBA Heavyweight titles. Vitali has made it clear though, he has his sights set on a battle with Lewis. So is Lewis vs. Klitschko coming soon?

Not so fast. After Jones beat Ruiz for the WBA title on Saturday night in Las Vegas, a whole lot of backroom scheming has taken place. Fairness and decency have apparently been thrown out the window.

First, a Lewis lawyer - perhaps acting as a paid mercenary to get rid of Klitschko - said to the media that Klitschko first had to fight a WBC title eliminator against Evander Holyfield in order to challenge Lewis. Wait a minute. I always thought being number one contender meant you were automatically deserved a title opportunity. No?

Klitschko's promoter Peter Kohl then called Lewis' lawyer, in effect, a liar. Kohl said he had a contract with Lewis for a fight on either April 12 or April 19 in the U.S. Kohl said the WBC confirmed this in writing that Vitali was Lewis' "official challenger"...whatever that means.

Next, suddenly, on Monday it got worse for Vitali Klitschko. We got news that the WBC was now ordering top-rated Vitali to fight an elimination bout against its next-highest rated boxer, in this case, the King-promoted Evander Holyfield. It seemed the WBC - along with it's co-conspirators - was screwing Vitali out of a title fight.

One could only imagine that a certain hirsute promoter likely has pulled some strings at the office of the WBC or sent a briefcase filled with you know what.

Shockingly, next it was the WBA's turn to defy Vitali Klitschko. Don King, of all people, told fightnews.com, "The fight (Vitali vs. Jones) is not in the making. He (Vitali) is not the mandatory challenger in the WBA because Klitschko has never paid the sanction fee to the WBA for the elimination bout with Larry Donald (a fight won by KO by Vitali last November). His position with the WBA is tenuous at best. He has totally disrespected the WBA and did not abide by the rules."

I have a question. Since when did Don King speak on behalf of the WBA? Is he the owner of the WBA?

So in a matter of hours, Vitali Klitschko went from being No. 1 top contender in the WBC and WBA to being forced out of title shots by both sanctioning bodies. This has to be one of the all-time worst boxing conspiracies to blatantly screw a fighter that I've ever seen in the sports' history.

If Klitschko is indeed being denied here, it will all make sense eventually. And justice will be served. But right now, the biggest problem for Klitschko seems to be that Don King has no percentage of interest in his career.

Curiously though, for some reason, Lennox Lewis seems very unwilling to risk his title in a fight with Klitschko. He has said on numerous occasions though that the Klitschko's are not tough enough and that he'd beat them easily. Well, then why not just do it and get it over with?

As we know in boxing and in life, nothing is ever as it seems. We must read between the lines to see the truth. What does all this say then? Well, it's politricks as usual in boxing.

And that Vitali Klitschko must be one helluva fighter because a whole lot of people want to freeze him out of the heavyweight picture.

Scoop Malinowski is a boxinginsider.com contributor and can be reached at MrBiofile@aol.com.