Vitali Klitschko boxing news
By Jim Dower: Former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KOs) is interested in avenging the loss of his brother Wladimir Klitschko by facing IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (19-0, 19 KOs). Joshua stopped the 41-year-old Wladimir earlier this year in beating him by an 11th round technical knockout in front of 100,000 fans on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
By Scott Gilfoid: Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) is going to be knocked out by the 10th round by former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko this Saturday night if he’s fully focused for the fight, says his brother Vitali Klitschko. Vitali believes that Wladimir is going to be especially dangerous to the 27-year-old Joshua early in the fight. This thought runs counter to what most boxing fans and writers are saying right now. They believe that it’s Joshua who will be more dangerous in the first half of the fight than he will in the second half.
By Scott Gilfoid: Former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, the older brother of former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko, says he must “dominate” IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua this Saturday night for him to win at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Vitali doesn’t want the 41-year-old Wladimir to wait and be passive against the younger 27-year-old Joshua, because he feels there will be no second chances for him due to his advanced age.
By Scott Gilfoid: The April 29 fight between heavyweights Anthony Joshua and Wladimir Klitschko has failed to catch on with the boxing public compared to fights in the past. Wladimir’s brother former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko is confident that Wladimir can beat Joshua or any heavyweight in the division if he’s focused.
Vitali says Wladimir lost his last fight to Tyson Fury because he wasn’t focused in that fight. Vitali is probably right. Wladimir looked like he was in a trance when Vitali and trainer Jonathon Banks were trying to give him instructions in between rounds how to turn things around against Fury.
By Eric Baldwin: Former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko believes his brother Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) will absolutely beat IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) in their fight on April 29, as long as the 40-year-old Wladimir is 100 percent dialed in for their fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Vitali doesn’t see Wladimir’s age as issue. He feels that Wladimir is still young and has five more years at the top of boxing as long as he’s focused. Before retiring two years ago, Vitali was still fighting a high level in the sport, and he looked unbeatable.
By Tim Fletcher: Former heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko says his brother former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko rates a rematch with Tyson Fury after his loss to him last Saturday night. However, Vitali it’s ultimately up to Wladimir whether he wants to step inside the ring with Fury a second time or not. Vitali says he was shocked at how Wladimir was beaten by Fury.
Wladimir is saying he would like to take a second fight with the 6’9” Fury. Vitali tried his best to encourage Wladimir in between rounds during the Fury fight. Wladimir was unable to get himself to do what his brother was telling him to do.
By Scott Gilfoid: Wladimir Klitschko’s brother Vitali Klitschko was less than happy with him tonight in watching IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir (64-4, 53 KOs) lose his world titles to a very, very limited Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision in a fight televised by Sky Box Office.
Vitali kept questioning Wladimir in between rounds, saying “I don’t understand” why he wasn’t throwing punches. Vitali gave Fury some credit by saying he was a little bit better, which sadly was true. Fury was better, but not much better.
By Tim Fletcher: Despite being an underdog in tonight’s fight, Tyson Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) is already looking past his fight against champion IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) towards a much desired match against Wladimir’s brother former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko.
Fury says he’d like to face the 44-year-old Vitali, who he doesn’t rate as highly as Wladimir in terms of boxing skills. If Fury somehow gets past Wladimir tonight, he’ll need to hold up on a fight against Vitali, because Wladimir has a rematch clause in his contract with him, and he’s not likely to let Fury just walk off with all of his titles without forcing a second fight between them.
By Scott Gilfoid: In what has to be seen as overkill, IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-3, 53 KOs) used his 6’7” brother former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko for several rounds of sparring to get ready for his title defense next Saturday night against the rangy 6’9” Tyson Fury (24-0, 18 KOs) at the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
Vitali, 44, hasn’t fought since 2012, when he successfully defended his WBC heavyweight title by easily beating Manuel Charr in a mismatch. However, Vitali is still likely more than good enough to step inside the ring and beat the likes of Fury on short notice if he were to be the one fighting this Saturday night.
By Abbas Dadhiwala: Vitali Klitschko is a unified World Heavyweight Champion with only two defeats on his record and 41 knockout wins out of 45 fights. But will be remembered as a great?
Klitschko hasn’t fought since stopping Manuel Charr in the third round in 2012. Klitschko is 45-2 with 41 knockouts. He has been more dominant even than that record shows.
He has stopped boxers like WBO Champ Herbie Hide, WBC champ Corrie Sanders who stopped his brother Wladimir. In his four bouts that went to decision, Klitschko defeated Dereck Chisora, Shannon Briggs, Kevin Johnson and Timo Hoffman. In all those bouts, Klitschko came ahead on the cards in 137 of the 144 scored rounds. That means he won 95.1 percent of the scored rounds in those matches.
In the two bouts, he lost, to Lennox Lewis and Chris Byrd, he was ahead on both cards at the time of the stoppages. He needed shoulder reconstruction surgery following his loss to Byrd in 2000, when he quit on the stool after the ninth round. But the judges had given Klitschko seven, of the nine rounds to Klitschko.