By Chris Williams: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (39-2, 37 KO’s) fights Alberto Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KO’s) this Saturday night at the Veltins Arena, Gelsenkirchen, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The fight has little appeal for many boxing fans because Sosnowski, a European heavyweight from Poland, is little known outside of Europe. In addition, he has done little to distinguish himself in his 12 round pro career other than beating a huge number of 2nd and 3rd tier heavyweights with little name value. Of the few times that Sosnowski has faced good B level, he has had a very tough time.

Sosnowski was beaten by American journeyman Zuri Lawrence in 2008 and fought to a 12 round draw with German based Italian heavyweight Francesco Pianeta last year in April. However, Sosnowski is ranked #12 in the WBC. The heavyweight talent is incredibly thin in the heavyweight division, which explains his ranking. However, Vitali, who wanted to fight a unification match against WBA heavyweight champion David Haye, could have certainly fought a better opponent than Sosnowski if he had wanted. There were arguably better opponents out there like Odlanier Solis, Nikolay Valuev, Tony Thompson and Tomasz Adamek that Vitali could have picked instead of Sosnowski.

A fight against Sosnowski is good for Vitali in that it’s a fight where he’ll make a ton of money because he’s getting a much bigger cut than Sosnowski, and win boxing fans purchasing the fight on pay-per-view and the many fans that will be coming to see the Klitschko-Sosnowski fight live in Gelsenkirchen, Vitali will make a killing financially in this fight. Hopefully, he doesn’t make a practice of fighting the lower ranked heavyweights in the future because this could wear thin watching him beat the bottom dwellers in the top 15.

The fight will be shown in the U.S by Integrated on PPV for $24.95. It’s a fight that might not last long, however, unless Vitali takes his time and carries Sosnowski for a few rounds.

Going forward, after Vitali crushes Sosnowski, he needs to give another shot at trying to fight Haye. I wouldn’t recommend wasting too much time trying to fight Haye, because he pretty much picks who he fights and it’s a waste of time trying to pursue him. If Haye wants to fight you, you’ll know it. Otherwise, Vitali needs to look at fighting the Cuban Odlanier Solis next. That fight is probably the best one that Vitali can make short of a fight against Haye. Solis has quick hands, good power and excellent boxing skills. What he doesn’t have is height and the conditioning. At 270 and only 6’1”, Solis would likely have major problems against the 6’7” Vitali. But, it would be interesting while it lasted and much more appealing than watching Vitali beat up on Sosnowski this Saturday. Incidentally, Solis has a win over Haye in the amateur ranks.