By Scott Gilfoid: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 40 KO’s) needs to maximize the time he has left in the sport and go after some really important fights before he hangs up his gloves in 2013 or 2014. The fight that a lot of boxing fans were somewhat interested in seeing was Vitali vs. David Haye, but that fight is now permanently off the table due to Haye wanting too much money for what he brings to the table.

Vitali’s manager Bernd Boente was trying to calmly tell Haye that at the press conference last Saturday night after Vitali’s win over Dereck Chisora, but Haye got up in arms and bent out of shape hearing the news. I’m afraid Haye didn’t take the news well because he seemed to take his frustrations out on Chisora moments later by beating him up a little. So, Haye is out of the picture permanently, and leaves the winner of this Saturday’s fight between WBA paper heavyweight champion Alexander Povekin and challenger Marco Huck at the next opponent for Vitali to fight. I expect Huck to win that fight off of his better power and youth.

He’ll win decisively, and thus setting up a mouth-watering fight between Vitali and Huck in one of the large football stadiums in Germany where they’ll likely fill it with 50,000 Germans eager to see how Huck can do against the 6’7″ Vitali. The only thing getting in the way of this fight potentially would be if Vitali’s torn up left shoulder fails to respond to the rest and rehabilitation. Vitali suffered a tear in one of his left shoulder ligaments in the 3rd round of his fight with Chisora last Saturday, and he had examined after the fight and they found a tear.

But the doctor that saw Vitali feels that it won’t need surgery to correct the problem. If he’s right, then Vitali should be ready to take on the Huck-Povetkin winner next. But if the doctor is wrong, then Vitali will waste eight weeks of rest and recovery and then will still need to go under the knife for them to repair what should have arguably been repaired in the first place. At that point, we may not see Vitali back in the ring until the very end of 2012 and possibly until early 2013. I suppose Huck will be the champion by then because his first title defense will be against 38-year-old Hasim Rahman and that’s a very winnable fight for Huck.

As for Chisora, he’ll be lucky if he ever fights again because he may lose his boxing license by the British Boxing Board of Control. If he doesn’t, then he’ll likely receive a suspension ranging from six months to one year. But he’s clearly out of the picture for a Vitali fight because this loss – his third in his last four fights – will knock out of the top tier. Chisora was #15 by the WBC, but he sure won’t be after this loss. We’re talking 2nd, baby! Chisora will have to claw and scratch his way back up to the #15 spot again. Who knows how long that’ll take after he’s done serving whatever possible suspension they give him.