Wladimir Klitschko Has Shoulder Surgery, Probably Won’t Fight Until 2010

By Boxing News - 08/22/2009 - Comments

By Dave Lahr: Few if any boxing fans knew that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Kitschko (53-3, 47 KO’s) injured his left shoulder in his June 20th ninth round TKO victory over Ruslan Chagaev in Germany. And even fewer people had knowledge of Klitschko having surgery to repair the tendon in his left shoulder. The surgery was performed six weeks ago, according to Dan Rafael.

Since then, Klitschko, 33, has been walking around with his left arm hanging limply in a sling. The bad part about this whole thing is that Klitschko very likely won’t be able to fight American Eddie Chambers until the Spring of 2010. Wladimir’s left shoulder first needs to heal from the surgery and then he needs to rehab it before he can undertake serious training for a fight against a tough opponent like Chambers.

The good news is that the surgery is considered minor and not a serious operation that could have possible career side effects if the shoulder didn’t heal correctly. While Klitschko is healing, boxing fans will be able to see his brother, World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, fight next month against undefeated American Chris Arreola.

It’s unclear whether Chambers will elect to fight a tune-up bout to stay busy before the Klitschko fight. Although it might be a good idea for Chambers to do so in order to stay sharp, it would be a risky thing for him to do because he’s a small heavyweight and is vulnerable of being hurt or possibly beaten if he fights a quality opponent. Chambers, 27, is coming off the best win of his career, a 12-round majority decision over 6’7” Ukrainian Alexander Dimitrenko in July.

Chambers got down to the lowest weight of his career at 208 for the fight against Dimitrenko, shedding a lot of excess blubber that had been slowing Chambers down for the past few years. At the lighter weight, Chambers had much more energy and was able to fight hard for 12 full rounds without wearing down late in the fight like he sometimes does. Chambers knocked Dimitrenko down in the 10th and had him on the verge of being knocked out.

Klitschko has dominated the heavyweight division since adding Emanuel Steward as his trainer in 2004, and has won 11 of his last 12 fights with Steward at the helm. Steward has been for Klitschko what Freddie Roach is to Manny Pacquiao. Indeed, without Steward’s guidance and training, Wladimir likely wouldn’t be the heavyweight he is today and would still be the slugger he was back before Steward got a hold of him.



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