By Thomas Hanson: Former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (35-2, 34 KOs) turned 37 today. At an age where most fighters are in retirement, Vitali is making a comeback on October 11th against WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter. It’s been nearly four years since Vitali last entered a boxing ring in a professional fight, and with that vast amount of time that has gone by, there are big questions whether Vitali can even make it into the ring, let alone beat a fighter as good as Peter.
There’s a lot riding on Vitali being able to avoid getting hurt again, for if he does this it may signal the end of his plans on getting a title shot without having to work his way back to the top by fighting a number of fights. That obviously will probably never happen if Vitali is injured before he steps foot in the ring with Peter in October, as I see him quickly retiring rather than trying to push himself through training, praying that his brittle body doesn’t let him down one more time like it has in the past on numerous occasions. If his body can hold together for one fight, he may very well end up winning the heavyweight title from Peter, because even with the vast amount of time away from fighting, Vitali has much more boxing skills than Peter has at this point.
At the same time, Vitali has – or had – almost as much power as Peter, perhaps a little more with his right hand shots when he would load up on them. However, for him to defeat Peter, his biggest problem will be trying to make it into the fight without re-injuring his problematic back, which along with his knee problem, makes him very vulnerable for further injuries while going through the strenuous efforts of training camp.
After getting off to a fast start in his boxing career with an impressive 27-0 with 27 KOs. Vitali suffered his first loss, and the first of what would be a long string of injuries, against Chris Byrd in April 2000 when Vitali tore his rotator cuff in his left shoulder. He would later injure his back in 2002 while training for a bout against Larry Donald. After that, Vitali would go through a period of two years without sustaining any further problems with his health, ending with his 8th round destruction of Danny Williams in December 2004, which would be his last fight before his retirement in 2005.
While training to defend his WBC title against mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman, Vitali injured himself on three separate occasions, causing him to cancel his title defense against Rahman with each injury. Finally, Vitali retired after sustaining yet another injury while training, and subsequently announced his retirement from boxing. With four years away from the sport, Vitali attempted to make a comeback with a tune-up fight with Jameel McCline in September 2007, but once again he injured his back, causing the fight to be canceled altogether. With this latest fight coming up against Peter, many boxing fans have their fingers crossed hoping that somehow Vitali can make it at least into the fight without somehow hurting himself again.