By Jim Dower: In the past week, we’ve seen Vitali Klitschko make a successful comeback after four years away from boxing with his 8th round stoppage over Samuel Peter last Saturday in Berlin, Germany. However, if Vitali thought that his victory over Peter would immediately lead to him being awarded golden opportunities of huge mega fights, like the ones that typically occur in the lower weight classes, Vitali was sadly mistaken. Sadly, Vitali’s situation came out loud and clear when he gave an interview in which he said that he had hopes that Lennox Lewis would be coming out of retirement to fight him in a rematch. It seemed as if he had been asleep for the past four years and had woken up, thinking that it was still 2004 rather than 2008.

There will be no Lewis vs. Klitschko fight, I hate to say, so Vitali can forget that. Aside from that hopeless dream on his part, there’s a very real possibility of Vitali fighting Nikolay Valuev, the WBA champion. That would surely be an appealing fight for most boxing fans, but it comes in far short of being a mega bout. I’m sure there’ll be a lot of interest in a fight of that nature, but nothing in comparison to Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao or Ricky Hatton, or even Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones Jr, for that matter. Valuev, though an appealing fighter in Europe, he has few fans in the U.S or Canada.

Other than Valuev, there’s only David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko left. Haye is already on slate to face Wladimir in 2009, if Haye gets by his next opponent, Monte Barrett, in November. I don’t give Haye much of any chance at beating Wladimir, but if he does, sure, that would be a good fight for Vitali, but I don’t see it happening.

Haye will probably get destroyed easily by Wladimir, who will expose Haye’s soft chin and lack of experience and take him out within a few rounds. This leaves only Wladimir as Vitali’s only chance at getting a huge money fight before he retires from boxing in the next year or two. I know Vitali and Wladimir have promised both of their parent’s that they would never fight, but in this case, I’m sure their parents will agree to let them do. Both are now in their 30s, adults, capable of making their own decisions now and no longer need to be guided by their parents. Hopefully, they would wise enough to see the huge money potential in a fight like this, perhaps as much as $10 million or more for the winner of the fight, money that could be used to help their children have a better life someday.

From that perspective, it seems like an easy decision to make. It’s boxing, not dueling with swords or pistols. More than likely, one of them will get taken out in the early rounds of the fight (probably Wladimir), saving the loser from having to take a lot of punishment. Wladimir doesn’t routinely get hit a lot in his fights, so presumably he would be the one that would probably cave in if he were to take some hard head shots for more than two or three rounds or so. Vitali, however, hasn’t had to deal with a fighter with power and speed like Wladimir for years, so he could also end up getting taken out with a few rounds. Either way, it’s a win win situation for both brothers.