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The Klitschko brothers have more in common than their staggering size, PhD’s in sports science and the same parents. They also share a desire not to fight anyone who might fight back.
At the moment Vitali Klitschko holds the World Boxing Council heavyweight title and, for reasons understood only by the people who run RING magazine, its “undisputed” belt as well, even though there is nothing more in dispute than who is the true heavyweight champion of the world. What’s not in dispute is the Klitschkos’ unwillingness to fight to decide who that might be.
As things stand at the moment in the most splintered division in boxing, the elder Klitschko is supposed to fight the winner of the Hasim Rahman-Monte Barrett bout on or around Sept. 24, according to the often amended WBC rulebook. Klitschko has seized upon this date, however, in the hope the winner won’t be ready six weeks after having fought for the WBC’s interim title in Chicago, which became available only after Klitschko three times backed out of fights with Rahman for shadowy medical reasons.
What is now apparent is that Klitschko doesn’t want to fight Rahman or Barrett. He wants to fight a cadaver. If one is not available, Klitschko’s slippery manager, Shelly Finkel, whispers he’ll fight Oleg Maskaev, which is the same thing.
When not even HBO or SHOWTIME would buy such an absurdity, Finkel began to whisper the name of the undefeated young American, Calvin Brock. Brock is a fine young man with obvious talent but he’s neither ready for nor has earned the right to fight for a world title, which is why Klitschko wants him.
Klitschko is not entitled to a “tuneup” fight before facing the Rahman-Barrett winner either because he’s already had a career of tuneup fights. The one exception was his loss to Lennox Lewis, which apparently became the night RING decided he was the “champion-in-waiting,” even though one punch from an out of shape and ill-prepared Lewis nearly knocked the eye out of Klitschko’s head before the bout was stopped in six rounds with Klitschko leaking plasma as if he’d ruptured an artery.
Originally, Klitschko the Elder was to have fought Rahman on April 30 but he pulled out with a thigh injury he said was incurred while jogging. Where was he jogging, on the Maine Corps obstacle course?
Then he backed out of a June 18 fight with Rahman because he said the thigh was still a problem. Ever hear of physical therapy?
Then he weaseled out of a July 23 date with Rahman claiming a back problem he said required minor surgery. Surgery, by the way, that cleared up fast enough to be ready to fight a stiff like Maskaev on Sept. 24 but not the Rahman-Barrett winner or someone like James Toney, who is also clamoring for a shot at Klitschko that Finkel says he’s not going to get. And people make fun of John Ruiz?
You may not like his style but at least he’s willing to get into the ring with someone who can fight. So are Byrd and WBO champion Lamon Brewster. As for Klitschko?
“All the other top heavyweights are ready to fight,” says Toney’s promoter, Dan Goossen. “But Vitali Klitschko doesn’t want to fight anyone.”
That’s not wholly true. He just doesn’t want anyone who can fight back.
Which bring us to his little brother, former WBO champion Wladimir. He, in contrast to Vitali, is ready to fight. In fact, he hasn’t seen a courtroom he won’t do battle in.
That’s where he’s been since beating up unranked former cruiserweight Eliseo Castillo in Germany a while back. Rather than fighting DaVarryl Williamson in a rematch of their highly disputed first fight to determine who is the IBF’s highest rated available contender for champion Chris Byrd to face, this Klitschko would rather fight in an American courtroom to have his ranking changed. Only a Klitschko would have the gall to enter a courtroom to try and get his already undeserved ranking inflated.
What Klitschko is demanding is a shot at the IBF title without having to beat anyone who might deserve such shot himself. He would rather fight not to fight than simply get in the ring with a guy he says he’s already beaten once and clear up the matter the old fashioned way.
This was clear even to New Jersey District Court Judge Williams Martini, who will soon rule who is the IBF’s No. 3 challenger against his better judgment.
“I see little benefit for judicial intervention in an issue like this,” Martini said last week. “Everybody’s opportunity to do what they CLAIM they like to do – box – will be put on the sidelines.”
Martini’s lecture came after his urgings that the two sides compromise fell on the deaf ears of Finkel and Klitschko the Younger. Williamson lost a disputed five-round technical split decision to Klitschko after the latter’s eye was cut by an inadvertent headbutt last October in a fight in which Klitschko had been dropped once and appeared to be fading.
Since then, Williamson has stopped aged former heavyweight champion Oliver McCall and 15th-ranked Derrick Jefferson while Klitschko beat up one unranked former cruiserweight. The IBF chose to drop Klitschko from third to fourth because of it while elevating Williamson. The fact is neither of these guys should be fighting for a world title in the first place, but with Rahman and Barrett unavailable (they’re No. 1 and 2 in the IBF as well), Byrd has to fight the next highest rated opponent.
The IBF says it’s Williamson. Klitschko says it should be him. So why not take a fight to settle it? Maybe because one of them doesn’t want to fight? Or knows he really can’t?
“Who sues over a ranking?” Williamson said. “All you have to do is fight and the problem is solved.”
Of course, for Klitschko the Younger that’s the problem. When faced with a real fight he’s too often ended up on his face. He seemed headed there again against Williamson after having appeared to worry himself into early exhaustion. By the time the fight was halted halfway through, Klitschko was gasping for air, picking himself up of the floor and complaining he could not see. Two cards had him ahead at the time and so he was awarded a tainted victory he apparently doesn’t want to prove was deserved.
“The problem is those guys don’t want to fight anybody,” Williamson contends, with good evidence to support that argument.
Goossen claims Toney offered Vitali Klitschko 60 per cent of the money to give him a shot at the title but was rebuffed. Rahman insists he’ll be ready on Sept. 24 if he beats Barrett but Klitschko says he’s going in another direction even though WBC rules forbid it.
Why a guy who’s biggest victories have been over portly Kirk Johnson, aged Corrie Sanders, and journeyman Danny Williams is allowed to dictate how the entire heavyweight division will operate is beyond my ability to comprehend. How his younger brother, who has been knocked silly by both Sanders and WBO champion Lamon Brewster, gets to dictate anything at all but a letter to his secretary is even more baffling.
Maybe the editors of RING magazine, who helped create this mess by handing the elder Klitschko a belt symbolizing the undisputed title when he didn’t deserve it, understand all this. The only thing the rest of us understand is there’s one title they’ll never have. No one’s going to be calling them “The Fighting Klitschko
