Due to a tendon tear in the left calf of IBF/IBO and “The Ring Magazine” World Heavyweight Champion and WBA/WBO Superchampion Wladimir Klitschko his championship fight against Tyson Fury has to be postponed. After sustaining this injury in his training session yesterday Wladimir Klitschko has promptly left his camp for seeking medical treatment from Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt i.a. team doctor of the German national soccer team who has diagnosed the injury.
Wladimir Klitschko: “Especially after the exciting press conference last Wednesday I was looking forward to this fight very much. I know that a lot of fans have organized their trips for supporting me in Düsseldorf. I am so sorry that I am not able to fight on October 24. As well as I am sorry for my opponent who has already prepared for this fight for many weeks. I will do my very best to recover as fast as possible.”
Wladimir Klitschko continues to seek medical treatment from Dr. Müller-Wohlfahrt next week and the new date for the fight against Tyson Fury will be announced next week. TheESPRIT arena in Düsseldorf will still be the venue.
Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt: “The clinical and MRI-examination in our clinic showed a partial muscle-tendinous tear of the left calf. The boxing fight planned for October 24 (World Championship in the heavyweight division) should be postponed for an indefinite period of time. Due to this injury we strictly recommend to stop the athletic activity for the next weeks.”
Bernd Bönte, CEO Klitschko Management Group: “Unfortunately, these situations are always possible in individual sporting disciplines. We all know about the importance for everyone involved as well as for all boxing fans. Therefore we are trying everything to postpone this fight to a date close by at the ESPRIT arena in Düsseldorf.”
Calf injuries can take a while for them to heal, and there’s no telling how long the soon to be 40-year-old Klitschko will be out of action. It’s definitely not good news that he’s dealing with a tendon problem in his calf, because an injury like that could take many months to heal. Who knows if the injury flares up after it’s healed. Poor Fury could be seeing himself sitting around for the remainder of 2015, and some of 2016 waiting for an aging heavyweight to finally make it to the ring so that they can get this fight over with.
Fury must feel like he’s jinxed or something because he had to deal with injuries from David Haye in 2013, when Haye kept getting injured over and over again. The fight finally had to be canceled altogether after Haye suffered a bad shoulder injury to his right shoulder.
It’s unclear how long the sanctioning bodies will let Wladimir sit on the shelf with injuries before they decide to strip him of his titles and give him an Emeritus status. It depends on the sanctioning body. But if this drags out for an entire year of inactivity, then the sanctioning bodies are going to need to make a decision what to do with the aging 39-year-old Klitschko.
Getting injured like this is one way to keep Fury from getting a chance to win his titles. It’s not that Wladimir tried to get injured of course, but it definitely helps Wladimir keep Fury from getting a chance at beating him and taking his titles. If the injury continues to keep Wladimir out of the ring well into 2016, then Fury is going to need to make a decision whether he wants to continue to wait on Klitschko. If Fury can opt out of the contract, then he can go after WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder and look to win his title. Unfortunately for Fury, he’d likely need to wait until Wilder defends his WBC title against his mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin in early 2016, and there’s really no way of knowing for sure if Wilder will be able to beat the Russian fighter.
Wladimir really shouldn’t be pushing his aging body hard in training camp at this point in his career. He’s practically 40-years-old now, and he needs to be treating himself like a 40-year-old by taking things slow and not pushing himself the way he would if he was in his mid 20s.
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