By Jason Kim: In a bit of bad news for World Boxing Council heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (36-2, 35 KOs) will be forced to defend his title in his next defense to his number #1 mandatory challenger Juan Carlos Gomez (44-1, 35 KOs) rather than defending his title against a lower ranked fighter than him. Vitali, 37, recently came back from a four-year retirement to stop WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter in the 9th round in October.
Vitali, a three-time heavyweight champion and the brother of IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, looked very impressive in defeating Peter, appearing to have lost nothing in his four-year retirement. Since winning the title, Vitali has hinted at wanting to face Nikolay Valuev, the WBA heavyweight champion, in a unification bout. Valuev has a fight with Evander Holyfield in December, but following that fight, Valuev has an open schedule.
With Vitali now forced to fight Gomez next, that changes things dramatically for the worse for Vitali, because not only will he have a fight that will earn him much less money than a fight with Valuev would, Gomez is probably the more dangerous opponent for Vitali due to his speed, long reach, southpaw stance and excellent counter punching ability.
By Aaron Klein: It seems as if we’re in a time warp, going back all the way to 2004 when then WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko was struggling to get make into to the ring in one piece for his title defense against his mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman. At the time, there were more than a few boxing fans who felt that Vitali was less than eager to face Rahman due to Hasim’s big right hand, long reach and good boxing skills. After injuring himself on a number of occasions, causing the cancellations of his fights with Rahman, Vitali retired without ever fighting Rahman. It’s unknown whether or not Vitali could have beaten Rahman, who appeared to match up with Vitali at the time. 
By Scott Gilfoid: After Vitali Klitschko’s huge 8th round stoppage over WBC heavyweight champion Samuel Peter on Saturday night, Vitali didn’t elaborate on his future plans inside the ring other than mentioning Nikolay Valuev, the WBA heavyweight champion, as a potential fight. However, Vitali’s mandatory challenger is Juan Carlos Gomez, who recently defeated Vladimir Virchis to get the number #1 spot to fight the winner of Peter vs. Vitali. As of now, Klitschko will either have to take the fight against Gomez, 35, or consider vacating the title. Gomez, a former WBC cruiserweight champion between 1998 to 2002, successfully defended his title 10 times before giving it up to move to the heavyweight division in 2002. 
By Erik Schmidt: In the WBC heavyweight title eliminator bout between number #1 ranked Vladimir Virchis (24-2, 20 KOs) and the number # 2 ranked fighter Juan Carlos Gomez (44-1, 35 KOs), Virchis was soundly defeated in a 12-round unanimous decision loss to the 35 year-old Gomez at the Color Line Arena, Altona, in Hamburg, Germany, on Saturday night. Virchis, 35, was knocked down in the 4th round, and appeared to lose every round except for the 10th, and the 11th. 
Heavyweight Juan Carlos Gomez (43-1, 35 KOs) dominated the 42-year old Oliver McCall (51-9, 36 KOs) beating him by 12-round unanimous decision at the Estrel Convention Center, Neukoelln, in Berlin, Germany. The final judges’ scores were 116-112, 118-110 and 118-110, giving Gomez the victory. Strangely enough, this was the second time that Gomez has beaten the forty year old McCall, having beaten him two years ago by unanimous decision only to have the victory ruled a no-contest when drugs showed up in his urine after the fight. This time, however, the victory was even easier as the southpaw Gomez controlled the action with his long jab and straight left hand.