By Jim Dower: In a recent interview by trainer Emanuel Steward, he stated that he felt that IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (49-3, 44 KOs) could fight until into his 40s due to the lack of quality competition in the heavyweight division. In an article in yahoo sports section, Steward said this about Klitschko:
“Now I don’t see anything in the next three, four or five years, even in the amateur program. That’s a sad situation – and it means Wladimir can fight until he’s 40 as far I’m concerned.”
Indeed, Steward may have a point in that there are few quality heavyweights in the division aside from young Eastern European heavyweights Alexander Povetkin and Alexander Dimitrenko. In the case of Povetkin, he’s looked very beatable in his last two bouts against Chris Byrd and Eddie Chambers, and because of that, he doesn’t figure to be a threat to Wladimir in the near future or perhaps ever. Dimitrenko, a 6’7″ 250 lb fighter from Ukraine, has the size and skill to give Klitschko problems.
However, Dimitrenko has little power and wins most of his fights by essentially beating his opponents with a accumulation of blows over the course of the bout. He’d not likely get as many chances against Wladimir before getting hit by something big and getting stopped in the early rounds. Dimitrenko was dropped in his last bout against Timo Hoffmann, a fighter not considered to be an especially big puncher. Not a good sign for Dimitrenko, who was also knocked down earlier in his career by an average fighter.
Whether Wladimir even wants to fight another 10 years is something that only he knows, for he’s mentioned previously that he would like to unify the titles and then retire. That’s not a particularly lofty goal when you consider the who the current heavyweight champions are – Ruslan Chagaev, Samuel Peter, Oleg Maskaev and Sultan Ibragimov. If anything, Wladimir seems to be undershooting his ability by thinking of retiring after beating this trio of fighters. They’re all good heavyweights, don’t get me wrong, but clearly not the type of opponents to fight and then walk away from the sport, as if saying ‘I’ve accomplished all that there is, and I don’t need to test myself against others.’
Obviously, beyond this group of fighters, there’s only Dimitrenko and Povetkin, meaning that Wladimir will have to settle for less than quality opponents for the next few years until a good fighter emerges from the pack. It would have to be someone that we’ve not heard of because the current top 20 heavyweights in the division are already well known, and none of them are in Klitschko’s class as a fighter. In terms of power, Wladimir has more than enough strength to last another 10 years in the sport. However, his legs and handspeed with start to diminish in the coming years, leaving him more of a stationary fighter.
This could be a problem for him considering his weak chin. Against Samuel Peter, Klitschko would have likely been knocked out if he didn’t use his feet to move around the ring and prevent Peter from cornering him. As it is, Klitschko was knocked down several times in the fight. If you take away his movement, I would have a hard time seeing him coming out on top for he would be forced to stand and trade with Peter.
Of course, if he knew he had to fight for his lift, Wladimir perhaps wouldn’t have been so reluctant to unload on Peter with crush shots, and may have been able to knock out in the first rounds of the fight. As we saw in the 12th round, when Wladimir finally had enough and decided to stand and fight with Peter, he hurt him badly with a big left hook, staggering Peter. In some ways, as you can see, Wladimir may end up being an even more dangerous fighter as he gets older, because he’d know that he’d have to go for broke or else risk getting stopped himself.
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