By Rusty Nate: The heavyweight scene has been one of two different divisions over the past few years. The standard HW division is where the likes of Mariuz Wach, Samuel Peter, David Haye, Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder, Tony Thompson, Manuel Charr, Tomasz Adamek and Odlanier Solis all practice their trade. The second division within the Heavyweight class is where currently only Vitali and Wladamir sit up on high looking down.
I have recently noticed a likeness to this situation. If you have ever seen the very poor yet somehow enjoyable sequel to the film “Best of the Best” you would know a fighter called Baracus. He claims to be the world’s ultimate fighter and watches down from on high as the minions fight each other in an attempt to earn a chance to get a beating from Baracus himself.
I cant help but think this is exactly what’s happening in the HW division right now.
I have a great respect for the Klitchko’s. They have both faced huge adversity in their long careers.
Wladimir went through a phase where he was stopped a couple of times and struggled badly a few years ago to the point that even Vitali told him “your finished, you should retire”.
Vitali, who was a kick boxing world champion even before coming to boxing, suffered injury after injury. I am not talking about a sprained ankle or a pulled muscle, these were very serious, very painful and definitely career threatening.
In their respective ways they have both taken a step back, reevaluated the problems and situations in order to come back twice as good as before. To me that is the exact mark of a true champion of the sport.
What has bothered me recently is Vitali’s mind set and attitude towards his boxing career. He is of course a politician in his native Ukraine and apparently doing very well at it. (as if being HW champion of the World was not enough of a challenge)
Vitali should be making his choice one way or the other. We have all seen the drastic decline of Manny Pacquiao over the past couple of years and although there has been many excuses for this from various different team members the fact of the matter is that no one is in a position to maintain two or more simultaneous careers that require so much commitment and strength both mentally and physically. I wouldn’t want to see Vitali fall foul of this situation and lose to a ‘no body’ that doesn’t deserve the Klitschko name on their record.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been there working full time by day and then into the late hours at a bar trying to earn ends meat for years on end in my younger days. It was tough then and trust me, I had two jobs that were no where close to the level of commitment and effort needed to be a world class boxer and a politician.
I just think that Vitali owes it to the fans, the sport, the governing body, the other heavyweights and most importantly to himself to make the choice and then stick to it 100%! What ever he decides will be no shame and he will always command the utmost respect and admiration from everyone involved with the sport of boxing! To lose only once on a cut to the likes of Lennox Lewis is no embarrassment especially considering the fight he put up. The Byrd loss we don’t really count because lets face it, Vitali had to stop himself, Byrd never won the fight.
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