By Jeff Aranow: Former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) turned 40-years-old today. Wladimir is going into what could be the toughest fight of his 20-year pro career in July against IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) in a fight that could take place in the UK.
Wladimir needs a win over Fury to remain at the top of the sport. Last year, Wladimir was beaten by Fury by a 12 round decision in November. The defeat ended Wladimir’s nine-year reign as a world champion.
Wladimir had been a world champion from 2006 to 2015. He also had a three-year reign from 2000 to 2003 before getting stopped by the late South African Corrie Sanders.
Wladimir hasn’t said how much longer he plans on continuing his boxing career. Wladimir says he still loves the sport, but his last two performances against Fury and Bryant Jennings would suggest that he’s at the end of the line as far as being a world champion level fighter. If Wladimir were have to face some of the other champions like Charles Martin, Deontay Wilder or Luis Ortiz, he would very likely lose badly. Those are all big punchers that have the size to reach the 6’6” Wladimir’s chin.
Wladimir needs to raise his game in the rematch against the 6’9” Fury if he wants to avenge his loss and recapture his IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight titles that he lost last November to Fury. If Wladimir wants to win back his IBF title, then he’ll need to go after the winner of the Martin-Joshua fight, because Martin won the vacant IBF title that was stripped from Fury when he failed to face IBF mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov last January.
If Wladimir loses to Fury, he could be facing some hard career decisions. It wouldn’t make any sense for him to try and face Fury a third time. Wladimir could either retire, or go after WBC champ Deontay Wilder or try and get a fight against the winner of the Charles Martin vs. Joshua fight.
I keep pushing forward and can't wait to get back in the ring with Fury #nowmorethanever pic.twitter.com/w1LUZoOaNI
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) March 20, 2016
Deontay Wilder scheduled to face Alexander Povetkin on May 21 in Moscow, Russia
WBC heavyweight champion Deontay “Bronze Bomber” Wilder (36-0, 35 KOs) is scheduled to put his unbeaten record and his WBC title on the line in two months from now against his number one mandatory challenger Alexander Povetkin (30-1, 22 KOs) on May 21 in Moscow, Russia. In the co-feature bout, WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev (28-2, 21 KOs) faces IBF champion Victor Emilio Ramirez (22-2-1, 17 KOs) in a unification fight.
The importance of the Wilder-Povetkin fight is that the winner of this bout could wind up facing the winner of the Klitschko-Fury rematch. While Wladimir hasn’t said whether he’ll take on the Wilder vs. Povetkin winner, Fury has commented about wanting to fight the winner of that fight.
Fury could change his mind of course, and he may very well do that if Anthony Joshua wins his title fight against IBF heavyweight champion Charles Martin in their fight on April 9 at the O2 Arena in London, UK. Fury can make more money fighting Joshua than he can against Wilder.
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