Vitali to announce his plans on November 30th

By Allan Fox: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (45-2, 41 KO’s) was able to get out of the WBC’s 51st national convention without being stripped of his title for not having failed it, and without him giving any plans when or if he’s going to defend the belt. Vitali asked and was given permission by the World Boxing Council to put off his decision until November 30th.

It’s unclear what’s so magical about November 30th for him to be waiting until then to make an announcement. It’s expected that Vitali will announce his next fight on November 30th, but he also could say he’s retiring. He hasn’t been in negotiations with his mandatory challenger Bermane Stiverne, so it’s possible that Vitali could either retire or announce that he’s going to face someone else rather than Stiverne.

It’s been over a year since Vitali fought and over two years since he defended his title against his mandatory challenger. He’s put off purse bids of the fight. The fight should have taken place this year, but Vitali canceled several purse bids. Finally, he suffered a hand injury which removed any possibility of a title defense against Stiverne in 2013.

Vitali announced recently that he’ll be running for the president of Ukraine in 2015. If that’s the case then he’s going to need as much time as possible to campaign in 2014. It doesn’t make sense for him to be continuing his career unless having the WBC title in his possession during the time he’s running for the presidency is something that can potentially help him. One would hope that if Vitali does choose to keep the WBC title then he’ll start defending it a little more regularly in 2014. If he disappears for a year or more after he defends it against Stiverne, then that would be bad for the contenders that have been waiting for a world title shot against Vitali.

Vitali chose not to make what would have been a lucrative title defense against David Haye in 2012. Instead of facing Haye, Vitali choose German based contender Manuel Charr to defend his title against, and he easily beat Charr by a 4th round TKO. The fight didn’t make much sense from a money standpoint because it was a much lesser fight than a match-up against Haye would have been. Vitali has never had a big money fight during his career, and that would have been his first.