LAS VEGAS – Vitali Klitschko says he ready to “show the critics and especially my fans who the real heavyweight champion of the world is.” It’s too bad he had to be ordered by the WBC to do so.
Klitschko had petitioned the WBC to make an optional defense against someone other than the top two contenders, Baltimore’s Hasim Rahman and Monte Barrett of Queens. It would be Klitschko’s second optional defense since winning the vacated title by defeating Corrie Sanders on April 24, 2004.
He was allowed to fight unheralded Danny Williams last December with the condition he face a mandatory challenger next. But a bout with Rahman originally scheduled to take place was postponed three times. An April 30 bout was postponed due to Klitschko’s thigh injury. It was rescheduled for June 18 but again postponed because the same thigh injury was slow to heal. Yet another proposed fight on July 23 was postponed because of minor back surgery he had on April 19.
That prompted Rahman and Barrett to agree to meet for the interim WBC heavyweight championship on Aug. 13 in Chicago with the aim of guaranteeing a fight with Klitschko once he was healthy. But the champion insisted he would be ready by Sept. 24 and was looking to fight a lower-ranked opponent such as unbeaten Calvin Brock.
But like much of the boxing public, the WBC wanted none of it, ruling Klitschko’s next fight much be against the Rahman-Barrett winner by December. In a released statement, Klitschko tried to act like the ruling didn’t disappoint him.
“I am proud to be the WBC heavyweight champion and I want to thank the WBC and its president, Jose Sulaiman, for finding a fair solution to our situation,” Klitschko said in a released statement. “There has been a lot of criticism against me lately, but now that I am healthy and able to fight, and know when my next fight will be, I am keen to go forward and show the critics and especially my fans who the real heavyweight champion of the world is.”
Part of proving to be the real heavyweight champion is fighting the top contenders, especially in an era when the division is suffering from a lack of interest. The premier fights are all in the lighter divisions. Bernard Hopkins defended his undisputed middleweight championship against unbeaten and top-contender Jermain Taylor last night here, and other bouts this year featuring welterweight champ Zab Judah, junior welterweight Floyd Mayweather and light heavyweight Antonio Tarver, have proven intriguing and entertaining.
Meanwhile, the heavyweight division remains muddled in a maze of ducking and dodging. Three of the current title holders, WBA champion John Ruiz, IBF title-holder Chris Byrd and WBO champ Lamon Brewster, are promoted by Don King, as are Rahman and Barrett. King has said he’d like to stage a tournament to determine an undisputed champion. But Klitschko is leery of dealing with King and wants no part of a tournament.
But Klitschko’s attempted tap dance around Rahman and Barrett has stripped him of his credibility, something he won’t be able to restore until he eventually meets the Rahman-Barrett winner.
“Whomever I fight next, I will be ready,” he said. “I will not be rooting for either Rahman or Barrett, but Rahman has been talking so much and saying so many bad things about me, I think I would love to personally shut him up once and for all.”
Right now, Klitschko has a lot more critics than Rahman.
