By Tim Fletcher: Last Saturday’s heavyweight clash between former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) and Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) brought in a respectable average of 1,038 million viewers on HBO from the ESPRIT Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The Klitschko vs. Fury fight was televised during the afternoon on regular HBO. The fight was helped out in that was packaged with the replay of the middleweight fight between Miguel Cotto and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez. That fight did almost as well as the Klitschko-Fury bout in averaging 901,000 viewers on HBO. The Canelo vs. Cotto fight had taken place on November 21st on HBO pay-per-view.
HBO is considering televising the rematch between Klitschko and Fury, according to Rafael. There still isn’t a date for the rematch, but it’s expected to take place in the first quarter of 2016. Wladimir has already chosen to invoke his rematch clause that he had in his contact with Fury.
While some boxing fans saw the loss for Wladimir as being an upset, it was hardly seen by one by other fans of the sport, because Klitschko has been on the slide for some time. It was only a matter of time before someone beat him. The 6’9” Fury had the size, arm length and the mobility to edge Klitschko on the scorecards in winning a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores of 115-112, 115-112 and 116-111.
“I was really frustrated directly after the fight but after some short nights, I now know that I want to show that I am much better than my performance on Saturday,” Wladimir told Fight News. “I couldn’t show my full potential at any time. This is what I want to change in the rematch, and failure is not an option.”
The fight could have salvaged by Wladimir in the last four rounds of the contest if he’d just listened to his trainer Johnathon Banks and attacked Fury by throwing some punches, but Wladimir wasn’t following directions. He was on cruise control in fighting his type of fight in choosing to move around the ring and hold frequently.
Fury and his team were overjoyed earlier Wednesday at hearing the news that Wladimir wants a rematch. This is a fight that will bring Fury a big payday in the rematch, and it’s one that he can win if Wladimir isn’t capable of throwing punches again. If not for the Klitschko rematch, Fury would be forced to make a decision whether to defend his titles against his IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov.
That’s a fight that would have made Fury a lot less money, and it might have proven more difficult because Glazkov is capable of throwing punches and fighting hard. He wouldn’t be reluctant to attack in the same way that Klitschko was.
Wladimir, 39, is going to need to make a decision what to do with his career if he loses the rematch against Fury. If Wladimir can’t beat Fury in the second fight, he’ll have to try and get the other heavyweight champions WBC title holder Deontay Wilder or WBA “regular” champion Ruslan Chagaev to agree to fight him if he wants a chance of winning another world title.
Wladimir’s manager Bernd Boente expects a lot of interest in a second fight between Wladimir and Fury despite the fight last Saturday being one of the most boring fight within memory.
“There will be huge worldwide interest in this fight which already can be billed as the fight of the year in 2016,” Boente said. “We received so many questions from fans and journalists after last Saturday. The new champion will answer all of them inside the ring.”
This could be the end of the line for Klitschko if he gets beaten again. He’s going to make a bundle in the rematch, but the paydays could soon dry up for the Ukrainian fighter if he keeps getting beaten.
Wladimir has already beaten Chagaev in the past in stopping him in the 9th round in 2009. Chagaev would be a winnable fight for Wladimir if he’s still capable of throwing punches. Chagaev might even be interested in taking the fight because it would mean a big payday for him, especially if the fight were to take place in a large stadium in Germany.
Deontay Wilder would be a more difficult fight for Klitschko, because Wilder has the height at 6’7”, the hand speed, and the punching power to create huge problems for him. If Wladimir was afraid to let his punches go against a light hitter like Fury, then you can imagine what his problems would be like against Wilder.
While Fury wasn’t too brave himself in letting his hands go against Wladimir, Wilder would be the opposite of those two fighters. He would most certainly be attacking Wladimir all night long, and if Wladimir couldn’t come up with any offense to gain his record, you would have to assume that Wilder would make quick work of him.
Wladimir will need to fight a smarter in the rematch with Fury if he wants to win the fight. It won’t work for Wladimir if he moves around the ring, holding Fury all night long like he did last Saturday. If that’s all Wladimir is going to do, then he should spare himself the embarrassment of a second fight with Fury, because he’s not going to win the fight like that.
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