Vitali could be back in the ring before May, possibly against Haye

By Boxing News - 01/16/2013 - Comments

vitali3421343By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KO’s) will be making a decision about his boxing career within the next month, according to his promoter Tom Loeffler of K2 Promotions. If Vitali does continue fighting he’ll be back in the ring by April, and possibly against David Haye, says Loeffler.

Loeffler said Michael Woods at ESPNNewYork.com “We should know within a month. If he did fight, it would be before May.”

Vitali, 41, will be making a decision whether to focus on his political career in Ukraine or continue to fight for a little while longer. The fight with Haye is obviously an appealing move because it would give Vitali his biggest fight since his bout with Lennox Lewis over a decade ago. Vitali’s boxing career, although successful, is missing a big name fighter.

Vitali fought some quality guys during his career, but none that created a lot of excitement the way that a fight with Haye would. It doesn’t matter that Haye was beaten by Wladimir Klitschko in 2011. Boxing fans would still be interested in seeing Vitali and Haye fight because of Haye’s power, speed, youth and marketing ability. He’s very good at building up a fight.

The other options for Vitali are far less appealing. He could fight the winner of the Bermane Stiverne vs. Chris Arreola bout or he could face someone like the untested Tyson Fury. The Arreola-Stiverne winner won’t be an interesting fight for Vitali because he already stopped Arreola in the 10th round in 2009, and fighting him again won’t attract a lot of interest.

Stiverne isn’t a big name, so Vitali won’t interest a lot of fans by fighting him. A Fury-Vitali fight would be a big fight, but not in comparison to a Haye vs. Vitali. That’s just a much bigger fight because Haye is the bigger draw in the UK and is better known worldwide than Fury is.

Haye would be a tough fight for Vitali at this point in his career because Haye has so much speed and power going for him. Vitali might want to take this fight because of the bad style match-up for him.



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