By James Slater – As dominant as he is and as on the top of his game as he is, WBC heavyweight king Vitali Klitschko has spoken about his retirement from the sport. And the 39-year-old who will hit the big 4 0 in July, says his final fight is not that far away.
Remarkably fit and strong for a man of almost 40-years-old, “Dr. Iron Fist” could, in all likelihood, carry on beating people up for a few more years at the very least. But the elder of the two all-conquering boxing brothers is concerned with getting out at the right time; of leaving the game on top. Vitali, in speaking with German paper BILD, spoke of how other fighters (and sportsmen from other fields) have hung around too long and left their chosen sport either with a loss or a poor performance..
Vitali, 41-2(38) and looking ahead to his March defence against the unbeaten Cuban, Odlanier Solis, says he will leave the sport the way he wants to.
“I feel like I’m a 25-year-old, but on paper I’m a ‘boxing grandpa,’” Vitali said. “I’m well aware of that. Lots of sportsmen have missed the right moment to end their career. That’s not going to happen with me. Every fight carries with it a big risk. You have to be realistic. But there will be a couple of fights yet.”
We can count the March date with Solis as fight one in the remaining couple Vitali says he‘ll have; and maybe after that (assuming he beats the Olympic medallist) there will indeed be just one more to go. Assuming for now he does take care of Solis on March 19th, it would be great to see Vitali go out with a huge fight. It’s possible Vitali could go out with that huge, out-door event set for Poland in September, against Tomasz Adamek. There could be as many as 60,000 in attendance for that fight, and such a huge crowd would make sure Vitali got the big send off he deserves.
However, according to the latest word on Ringtv.com, Wladimir is likely to face Adamek instead. Unless Wladimir loses to Derek Chisora on April 30th (and it would be a massive upset if that happened), the Ring magazine, WBO, IBF and IBO ruler is the man who will meet Adamek. So what big fight could Vitali go out with?
In an ideal world, he’d defend against WBA champ David Haye, in a big unification clash. But enough has already been written about why any Haye-Klitschko fight is so darn hard to make. Between them, the two Klitschkos have pretty much cleaned up the division. Adamek, Solis and Haye aside, who else is there for them to fight?
Come March, Solis may or may not have been defeated, leaving Haye and Adamek as the only marquee names left to challenge a Klitschko. Wlad looks like getting Adamek; but who will Vitali get in what could well be his final ring appearance?