(Photo credit: HBO) By Scott Gilfoid: IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3-, 53 KOs) sees himself as the real heavyweight champion in the world right now despite the fact that there are two other heavyweight champions in WBC champ Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) and WBA champion Ruslan Chagaev (33-2-1, 20 KOs). I think the 6’7” Deontay would have something to say about Wladimir saying that there’s only one heavyweight champion, because Wilder sees the 39-year-old Wladimir as someone he can beat.
Wilder believes that the only reason that Tyson Fury is interested in facing Wladimir is because he sees him now as being old and beatable to him.
“There’s 1 heavyweight champion and it’s been that way for a long time. If anyone wants to get it they need to get to me,” Klitschko said via Dan Rafael’s Twitter. “’Absolutely yes. This fight is gonna be huge in Europe. Absolutely huge,” Wladimir said about a fight between him and the 6’9” Tyson Fury.”
I think Deontay Wilder is right up there with Klitschko right now in terms of talent, and I see that fight as a 50-50 affair that could either way. Wilder would have an excellent chance of knocking Wladimir out in the first two rounds if that fight takes place due to Wilder’s hand speed, and power. He has a way of opening up with monstrous shots early in his fights, and I don’t think Wladimir would be able to survive one of Wilder’s flurries. Wladimir tends to throw one punch at a time in his fights, and I think he would have a lot of problems against a fighter like Deontay with the way he likes to throw combinations.
I don’t rate Chagaev as a high quality fighter, but I do see Wilder as someone with the potential of beating Wladimir by a knockout. According to Rafael, Wladimir is very interested in facing Deontay in the near future. The fight likely won’t be able to happen in 2015 because Wladimir has a title defense of his World Boxing Organization strap that he needs to get out of the way against Fury.
Once that fight is finished, then Wladimir vs. Deontay is a possibility. I’m not sure that it will happen though because Wilder’s adviser Al Haymon may have other ideas for Deontay in 2016. I mean, there are a number of other good fighters for Wilder to face besides Wladimir. He doesn’t need to take the fight against the Ukrainian just yet unless the money is right.
Of course, if there’s a lot of good cash for Wilder to make against Wladimir, then I can definitely see that fight taking place next year, but it’s obviously going to need to be good money. I’m not so sure whether Wilder will be interested in facing Wladimir in Germany though, because that might put Wilder in a position where he needs a knockout in order to get the victory. It’s not a big deal because Wilder is a huge puncher, but I doubt that he wants to be put in a position where he has to score a knockout to make sure that he gets the victory.
Wladimir has a title defense this month on April 25th against Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) at Madison Square Garden in New York. Rather than Wladimir beating his chest and proclaiming that he’s the only heavyweight champion, he needs to worry about trying to get past the hard hitting Jennings because this guy could very well be the end of the line for the 6’6” Wladimir. Jennings is a very good talent with excellent power in both hands, and an ability to put his shots together. I think Jennings has a good chance of scoring an upset in this fight and beating Wladimir.
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