Vitali Klitschko - Time to Move on?

I have a lot of time for Vitali Klitschko. He has fought well over the years and is a very good heavy weight champion. However, he hasn't fought for almost a year, his last two opponents weren't really world class, has no fight on the horizon and is 42 years old this week. So, should he retire? This is an intelligent man with qualifications most of us can only dream about. He is in Parliament in his own country, isn't he? If so, that's a full time job! To my mind, now is the time for him to go, head held high. People will say he is ducking some real challenges, but why hang around when he has nothing to prove? It's not like he hasn't got a life outside of boxing. Any serious counterpoints to this?

I hope this doesn't descend into a "bash Vitali" thread or "he's afraid of all the whipper snappers out there", but don't hold out too much hope.

How is he still champion with no fight lined up and having been out for such a long time, usually the WBC are pretty quick to remove people or is it just Ward they don't like?

Hagler one fight between Apr 85 - Apr 87...

Should they have stripped him too..........

I'm not talking about stripping him of the title, just that he could take matters into his own hands and retire ala Lewis, head held high, knowing that he is going under his own terms.

He can go under his own terms anytime he likes...........

Besides If he retired now they'd give Haye-Fury the vacant belt........

No let him stick around....

Would've thought it'll depend when his next big political push happens.

Must say, it does crack me up when they show footage of a fight kicking off in Ukranian parliament. VK just stands there, calm as you like, and I'm just wishing he'd finally at some point snap and go "right, sod this, you want to fight? Let's fight!!" and just wade in a lay everyone out, would be hilarious!!

Ala Lewis?? IM pretty sure the way he went out was not with his head held high. He offered a rematch and then retired into the sunset.

was the right Time to go, but was under very shady circumstances.

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:
Besides If he retired now they'd give Haye-Fury the vacant belt........

Have never seen a better argument to stop a boxer retiring....

Lewis isn't a good example as has been alluded to...........He was struggling like hell and quit because he smelt the coffee..........

Better example..............Calzaghe..

TopHat24/7 wrote:

TRUSSMAN66 wrote:
Besides If he retired now they'd give Haye-Fury the vacant belt........

Have never seen a better argument to stop a boxer retiring....

Ditto. Long may he reign!!

Calzaghe is a good choice Truss. Went out with one good win and an okay win (Jones). Headlined the states and made good money. Id also say another example of "the right timing" would have been (or should have been) Juan Manuel Marquez after pacquiao. If he beats Bradley and then retires, id class that as going out on a very very good note with having had a Stella career.

Really? Chisora was coming off two loses from his last three fights and Charr hadn't / still hasn't fought anyone of note. Sounds more like end of line to me.

I think he is likely to be facing Bermane Stiverne. There are purse bids for that fight next week. There has been ongoing discussions over the last couple of months but they have stuggled to reach a deal. Stiverne is mandatory now. Id expect the Haye/Fury fight to be some kind of eliminator also.

Cheers for the update. Still poses the question, why bother as this is not a great opponent by anyone's standard, mandatory or otherwise. I still think he should go off and enjoy the rest of his life.

Stiverne is a fairly highly ranked and regarded challenger.

Beat him and retire - that's about as big a 'high' as he can get given the dross out there.

Stiverne is probably one of the better opponents out there for him now I think. Hes coming off a good performance and win against Arreola. I would say in Vitalis position it must be tempting to hang around when you can make millions fighting guys you can beat at only 50%. The money from it and the prestige of being heavyweight champion probably helps his political aspirations. He probably still enjoys it too. Theres still nobody else out there really I think would make favourite to beat him apart from Wlad.

Lewis' retirement really sticks in my throat, as I believe a fitter and more focused Lewis would have come back and deleted the question mark of Klitschko on his record. As you all know, I believe he would have won anyway, yet there was that feeling that he wasn't perhaps having it as easy as he'd like and was visibly tired.

Vitali can retire now with his head held high, he's beaten everyone except his brother that he can, only losses are those that were medical and he has always been a standup guy throughout, very classy.

I think Vitali wins the rematch.........Lewis would be six months older and Vitali would have the confidence and the sturdiness to take an aging Lewis into the later rounds.........

Cut withstanding........

I think Lewis shared my assessment..

Okay. You both know more about it than me and at least he has a name on his win list. But is it really enough of a challenge to get the great man fired up? Being so workman like, that probably isn't as much of an issue compared to some other boxers.

Vitali took Lewis best shot.............Lewis would be 37+ had they fought again........

Vitali would have the confidence to know he could handle Lewis and the motivation of a world title...

Could Lewis up his game at that stage of his career.......??

Vitali had everything going for him in a second fight apart from the cut.

Is a difficult situation Vitali finds himself in, as you rightly say he has plenty of other interests outside the ring and clearly as a man of some intellectual capacity he is unlikely be short of either options or interests. However for all that there is a certain kudos and prestige that comes with being called heavyweight champion of the world and whilst he is ageing and clearly not the fighter he was some years ago but would you make him anything other than a warm favourite against anyone other than his brother?

When one can continue to pick up x amount of millions for turning out once a year and beating up the next in line you can see the temptation to stick around. For my money as long as he is winning and is not getting bashed up why would he not stay around. Does not speak particularly well of the chasing pack though that a 42 year old part time fighter with dodgy knees is probably still second the best heavyweight in the world.

From a boxing career standpoint I dont think there any challenges out there unless he wants to stick around long enough to surpass Foremans oldest heavyweight champion landmark. But in terms of fights or opponents, at present there isnt anyone I think that would advance his record significantly. His main motivation could be just to keep earning money with which to fund his political ambitions. I doubt he is training like would ten years ago for opponents though. Hes just been better than competition that he can still carry on despite ageing.

Not sure If he wants to break Foreman's landmark..........After all when Foreman broke it people actually cared about the achievement......

No one but an avid fan cares about Boxing these days.......and who can blame them.......

Ruby this...Interim that.........Continental this.........

Pretty pathetic...................

I doubt he uses much of his own money to fund his political ambitions. He is far too canny for that. But I think both you and rowley are right in saying he is so far ahead of the chasing pack that there isn't a real incentive to step down at the moment.

Millions of Europeans would probably care, and he would have his name in the history books. Does he care enough personally to target it? I dont know.

Supposedly half his political party costs are funded personally by Vitali although Im not sure how true this is or if there is evidence of it.

Manos does allude to him having put a fair chunk of his own money into politics in the Klitschko documentary so whilst I think he is too smart to leave himself in dire straits would guess the boost of an extra few million every year from fighting has a certain level of appeal.

manos de piedra wrote:Millions of Europeans would probably care, and he would have his name in the history books. Does he care enough personally to target it? I dont know.

Shouldn't think boxing has a million fans in Europe.........

Like I said only avid Boxing fans care about the sport these days..........The occasional fan has had enough...

and it's a shame.........

Vitali is a bright man he knows this era is dreadful.......and any milestones will be taken in that context.

Im not sure how many hardcore boxing fans are in Europe but the Klitschkos seem big there. I wouldnt be shocked if they counted their fans in the millions. Possibly they arent all hardcore boxing fanatics but I still think he would have a large number of people celebrating his acheivement if he did surpass Foreman. I would agree about the era but the record wuld still stand. Its potentially as little as three fights away so you never know. I didnt think when Vitali came back he would be around this long.

There's a previously unpublished interview with Manny Stewart that has been released and he says in it that it was Lewis' wife who didn't want Lennox to fight anymore.  Lennox and Manny were up for the rematch with Vitali apparently.

In my view Lennox would always be too good for Vitali who is also known known in other parts of the internet as TKO6.

13 million Germans watch him and brother Wlad take out challengers, so he has a big fanbase. Would be sad

Lewis wasnt going to win a rematch he beat Vitali on account of a cut that arose because of the thumb of the glove. He got lucky that night. Six months later, I dont think he'd win...

Might be wrong.

kingraf wrote:Lewis wasnt going to win a rematch he beat Vitali on account of a cut that arose because of the thumb of the glove. He got lucky that night. Six months later, I dont think he'd win...

Might be wrong.

Vitali started well but then Lewis awoke from his slumber. Lewis was turning the fight around without having to rely on the TKO6 stoppage. Vitali's face is the evidence, it wasn't just one cut.

In fairness...one can only speculate as to what would have happened without the cut....

We can say that Vitali was the younger man and that he took Lewis best shots......

As to whether Lewis could sustain the pace at that age........Is another matter..


One can also speculate that If it was Haye instead of Lewis we were commenting about you'd have had Vitali 6-0 up and coasting..

It would have also been Haye's fifth professional fight and first at heavyweight. Given the brown stain that would have been created, I doubt Haye would last until the sixth round.

I think you're missing the point..

I dont know how people can rate him as the best heavyweight. Hes 42. He should have retired long ago or else offered better opponents matches. The last decent boxer either of the Klitschko pair fought was Haye.

Well..That's settled then.. 

What does age have to do with it Winchester?

mayweather is nearly 37 and is still p4p best on the planet.

Mayweather needs to grow a pair... 

Mayweather fights and beats good opponents to prove he is the best. What does Vitali do? Offer fights to guys like Chisora who has lost to every other decent opponent he fought. I think Vitali knows well he is not the best heavyweight in the owrld and he picks opponents he knows he can beat so he can cling on to his position at the top. I can see any other explanation for him offer matches to the boxers he offers them to.

I think Vitali should offer a fight to Haye, oh he did Haye chose to fight Chisora instead.

winchester wrote:Mayweather fights and beats good opponents to prove he is the best. What does Vitali do? Offer fights to guys like Chisora who has lost to every other decent opponent he fought. I think Vitali knows well he is not the best heavyweight in the owrld and he picks opponents he knows he can beat so he can cling on to his position at the top. I can see any other explanation for him offer matches to the boxers he offers them to.

Slow down a bit on the typing and re-read what you put down. Mind you, pot kettle black from me I suppose!

To be fair to Vitali, looking at his opponents since 2008 and, a part from Chisora and possibly Sosnowski, the others had all done enough to justify a shot. Some one else can say how many of these were mandatories hwere he was not given a choice.

I dont believe Vitali Klitschko offered Haye a match. He could have offered him a match now before Haye agreed to fight Fury. The best thing boxers like Haye, Fury or Wilder can do is just stage their own matches which are huge fights and leave the Klitschkos behind. The whole reason Haye came back from reitrement was so he could get a match with one of the Klitschkos again and they havent been willing. Instead they offer matches to sparring partners or boxers already beaten by Haye and Fury. They dont take risks and thats a big part of the reason they are so old and still champions.

Wlad humiliated haye to the point where haye doesnt even talk about a rematch with him - and Vitali - well Vitali would have been fighting Pulev by now had Fury not chosen to fight haye.

winchester wrote:I dont believe Vitali Klitschko offered Haye a match. He could have offered him a match now before Haye agreed to fight Fury. The best thing boxers like Haye, Fury or Wilder can do is just stage their own matches which are huge fights and leave the Klitschkos behind. The whole reason Haye came back from reitrement was so he could get a match with one of the Klitschkos again and they havent been willing. Instead they offer matches to sparring partners or boxers already beaten by Haye and Fury. They dont take risks and thats a big part of the reason they are so old and still champions.

Actually, when they were born is the biggest factor in how old they are. Vitali did offer Haye a fight and Haye chose to fight Chisora, for whatever reason. Because you don't believe it doesn't make it a lie.

http://blogs.bettor.com/Vitali-Klitschko-and-his-camp-blames-David-Haye-for-backing-out-of-the-fight-Boxing-News-a172350

One of many sources

hasnt Haye only fought once since since his come back? Hardly on a crusade to fight a Klitschko!

winchester wrote:I dont believe Vitali Klitschko offered Haye a match. He could have offered him a match now before Haye agreed to fight Fury. The best thing boxers like Haye, Fury or Wilder can do is just stage their own matches which are huge fights and leave the Klitschkos behind. The whole reason Haye came back from reitrement was so he could get a match with one of the Klitschkos again and they havent been willing. Instead they offer matches to sparring partners or boxers already beaten by Haye and Fury. They dont take risks and thats a big part of the reason they are so old and still champions.

Who has Haye fought since losing to Klitschko? Chisora! Hardly showing that he is willing to fight the best out there.

Who has Wilder fought? Audley Harrisson! If you are happy watching Wilder face Audley harrisson and try and organise a fight with Chisora then you are just being blind.

Who has Fury fought? martin Rogan? Cunningham? Kevin JOhnson! hardly great names are they.

Haye and Fury have arranged a match which is huge. Two of the best heavyweights in the world. The Klitschkos last fought against sparring partners and boxers like Chisora or that cruiserweight that Haye had beaten years ago. They offer matches to opponents they know are no real threat. Even Chisora pushed the Vitali Klitschko all the way and this is supposed to be the best in the world? Fury beat Chisora when he had hardly any experience and Haye knocked him out.

winchester wrote:Haye and Fury have arranged a match which is huge. Two of the best heavyweights in the world. The Klitschkos last fought against sparring partners and boxers like Chisora or that cruiserweight that Haye had beaten years ago. They offer matches to opponents they know are no real threat. Even Chisora pushed the Vitali Klitschko all the way and this is supposed to be the best in the world? Fury beat Chisora when he had hardly any experience and Haye knocked him out.

The last person Haye fought was CHISORA!!!

the last person Fury fought was a CRUISERWIGHT in Cunningham. Fury still managed to get KoD

Klitschko is scheduled to fight Povetkin and if you knew anything about boxing you would know that Povetkin is considered the 3/4th best HW in the world behind the klitschkos.