Klitschko to move forward with career after Fury cancellation

By Boxing News - 09/25/2016 - Comments

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By Scott Gilfoid: Wladimir Klitschko has been left high and dry by Britain’s Tyson Fury for the second time after the 6’9” Fury pulled out of their latest scheduled fight this past Friday. Fury needs to get his life together for a moment before he resumes his pro boxing career. Wladimir, 40, says he’s going to be moving forward with his career, and he could be fighting for one or more of Fury’s titles if the sanctioning bodies end up stripping him of his IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles.

That could be a positive or a negative for Wladimir. It would depend on who he winds up facing. There are some heavyweights that Wladimir would match up well against, but others like Luis Ortiz that he probably wouldn’t do well with if he winds up being the one he faces.

For Wladimir, it’s bad news that he can’t get a second crack at Fury, because with the way that he’s looked recently with him still not looking in great shape, it would have been a winnable fight for the Ukrainian fighter. I don’t know if Wladimir could beat a dialed in Fury, not at this point in his career. We might not ever know.

If Fury comes back and elects to fight Joshua, then depending on the outcome of that fight, I doubt that we’d see Wladimir bothering with Fury. If Fury were to beat Joshua, then of course, Wladimir would probably be interested in facing him. There would be no point in Wladimir fighting Fury if he gets beaten by Joshua, because it would look too much like he’s going after sloppy seconds.

Wladimir said this about Fury pulling out of their fight:

“As you already know, Oct. 29 revenge against Tyson Fury is canceled due to whatever issue this time Fury has. Screw it. I will move forward and I will keep you posted when and against whom my next fight is going to be staged. I will rely on information from the sanctioning bodies. They will move on with the titles Fury currently has. I will keep you posted.”

Even if Wladimir does wind up regaining some of his heavyweight titles against a soft job, I can’t see him holding onto his belts for any length of time. Yeah, I think Wladimir would still be able to beat a small heavyweight like David Haye and other guys like Fres Oquendo, Lucas Browne, Kubrat Pulev and Andy Ruiz. I don’t think Wladimir could handle Luis Ortiz. As long as Wladimir doesn’t have to fight him, he might be able to win some of the titles and hold onto them for a little while, but not for long in my view. Wladimir looks like he’s starting to lose his boxing skills from the aging process. It’s not just what Fury did to Wladimir.

It appears that Wladimir has aged, and not aged as well as his older brother Vitali Klitschko, who was still fighting at a high level in his early 40s. Against Fury, Wladimir still looked to be quick of hand and powerful. His problem was he wasn’t willing to throw punches. It looked like Wladimir didn’t want to get hit. Vitali was never bashful about letting his hands go, considering he had confidence in his ability to take a shot if he got countered on the way in. I don’t think Wladimir has the same sense of confidence that he can take a hard shot. As such, he doesn’t let his hands go in the way he needs to for him to dominate like he used to. Wladimir isn’t going to be able to beat many of the top heavyweights if he can’t throw punches.

“I am totally disappointed that Fury canceled the fight for a second time,” Klitschko said to espn.com. “I am in top shape and I would have loved to retrieve my world championship belts in Manchester.”

Wladimir probably would have beaten Fury in the rematch, but that’s not because he’s improved and gotten younger. It would be a case of Fury not being dialed in the way he was in their previous fight last November. A motivated Fury probably beats Wladimir in the rematch. We’ll probably never know for sure, because I doubt the two giant heavyweights will face each other in the future. Wladimir looked inept in losing to Fury by a 12 round unanimous decision in Dusseldorf, Germany. Fury won without even doing much other than moving, jabbing and flicking weak looking right hands into the air. Fury showed how easy it was to beat what’s left of Wladimir at this point in his long career.

Wladimir has lost a year of his career waiting for the Fury rematch, and he’s going to move on if he doesn’t want to lose more time. If Wladimir can fight for one of Fury’s titles in December, it would be great news for the boxing fans. They would get a chance to see the 6’6” Ukrainian heavyweight back inside the ring. But like I said, I think Wladimir is going to need to be matched carefully for him to win. If he gets matched against a live body like Ortiz, then I see him losing. I think Anthony Joshua would easily beat Wladimir, as would Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker. There’s a number of heavyweights that I feel would do the job on Wladimir if given the chance.

“The situation really is depressing for Wladimir,” said Klitschko’s manager Bernd Boente to ESPN. “Since Fury cannot box for a long time, the world boxing organizations will react for sure. We are waiting for their prompt decision.”

This would be interesting if Wladimir can fight for the WBO title, because it would possibly put him in a situation to fight Hughie Fury if he can become the mandatory for that title. Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if Hughie were to beat Wladimir. I don’t see it happening, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Hughie pulled off the upset. The blueprint is already there in how to beat Wladimir from what Tyson Fury did. All Hughie would need to do is get with Tyson to get pointers.