Wladimir Klitschko wants Deontay Wilder after Jennings fight

By Boxing News - 02/05/2015 - Comments

Wladimir Klitschko vs Bryant JenningsBy Scott Gilfoid: Well, it looks like #1 WBO Tyson Fury is going to need to keep busy and bide his time until 2016 for him to get a title shot against IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, because the 6’6” Ukrainian has bigger fish to fry after he gets done defending his title against unbeaten American talent Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KOs) on April 25th at Madison Square Garden in New York.

After the Jennings fight, Wladimir wants to face the unbeaten knockout artist and current WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (33-0, 32 KOs) for his WBC title later this year.

The fact that Wladimir wants to face the 6’7” Wilder would help explain why Wladimir is choosing to fight Jennings at Madison Square Garden [MSG] rather than having the American come over to Germany and fight. MSG seats a little over 20,000 fans for boxing events. In comparison, Wladimir could fight Jennings in front of 60,000 fans in Germany in a stadium fight.

By Wladimir choosing to fight Jennings in the America, Wladimir is losing 40,000 fans and likely a huge amount of cash that he would be getting if he staged the fight in Germany. Further, it’s unclear whether the Klitschko vs. Jennings fight will even sellout the entire MSG arena. But if Wladimir fighting in the United States in order to setup a big fight against Deontay Wilder later this year, then, yeah, you can totally understand the idea behind fighting in the U.S rather than Germany.

The Jennings fight helps setup a much, much bigger fight between Wladimir and Deontay Wilder later in 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ey52w1ZXNHA

“We need to do it [Klitschko vs. Wilder] and we have to do it. There is certainly a reason why I’m back here and why I’m fighting on US television live on US soil,” Wladimir said via the Sportsmole.co.uk. “Wilder is the most valuable opponent for me to fight and the price is the title that he has.”

This is obviously bad news for Tyson Fury, because he’s been blabbering about wanting to fight Wladimir later on this year. Fury badly wants that fight, even though Deontay Wilder has already thrown Fury a bone by offering him a fight after his fractured right hand heals up. Fury doesn’t want the Wilder fight, though; he wants the bout against Wladimir for all of his titles.

Unfortunately, Fury’s ambition is going to keep him on the shelf for another year with him waiting for Wladimir, and even then it might not be Wladimir that he winds up having to face. It could the 6’7”, big punching Wilder that Fury is looking across at when he gets in the ring to get his guaranteed WBO mandated title shot. That’s a bad match-up for Fury, because Wilder is faster, more powerful, better defensively and a more mobile fighter. You can make a strong argument that Wilder is better than Fury in every area of his game, including in the chin department.

Wladimir has got to look good in beating Jennings on April 25th to create interest in a Klitschko-Wilder fight. Wilder has never had a fight during his seven-year pro career where he’s not looked spectacular, but Klitschko has had plenty of fights where he’s not looked good at all. That’s why Wladimir is going to need to make sure he looks courageous against Jennings, and that he doesn’t choose to hold him all night long like he tends to do against his opponents.



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