By Michael Collins: Peter Fury, the trainer for unbeaten #4 WBC Tyson Fury (20-0, 14 KO’s), is hoping that the 24-year-old Fury can jump in line in front of the arguably much more popular David Haye to get a title shot against the 41-year-old WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in March or at some point in 2013.
Vitali Klitschko
Vitali Klitschko boxing news
Haye: Vitali needs to fight me for his legacy
By Michael Collins: David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) thinks that WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko’s legacy won’t be impressive as it could be unless he faces his before he retires from boxing in the near future. Haye doesn’t think Vitali has had a true legacy-building fight during his 16-year-old career that boxing fans will remember.
Haye told Sky Sports News “He [Vitali] needs a fight people will actually remember, and the only recognized heavyweight out there is myself. He’s had 50 fights against nobodies. The only fight of his that people remember is the one against Lennox Lewis, which he lost.”
I’m all for Vitali building his legacy but there’s really no one in the top 15 right now that will help Vitali in that respect. Haye has already been easily beaten Wladimir Klitschko, so his scalp wouldn’t be worth much for Vitali at this point. It might have been before Wladimir beat Haye, but not now.
Fighters like Tyson Fury and David Price aren’t worth much for Vitali, because those fighters have been facing generally weak opposition.
Haye should forget about Vitali and either retire or fight someone else
By Michael Collins: It’s kind of sad to see former WBA heavyweight champion David Haye (26-2, 24 KO’s) still hanging around waiting and hoping that he’ll somehow get a big fight with WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. It’s pretty clear that isn’t going to happen, and he’s just wasting his time talking about the fight all the time when the signs are pretty clear that there’s just no interest from Vitali’s side.
Haye: I want to KO Vitali Klitschko in 2013
By Brad Cronick: Former two division world champion David Haye has hitched his wagon to WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko, as that’s the only fight that Haye wants before he retires. Haye is waiting to see if the 41-year-old Vitali will fight him or choose to retire.
If Vitali retires, then Haye plans on getting out of boxing as well because he doesn’t want to fight any of the smaller names despite the fact that he can still make very good money against them. Haye wants the huge money that would come with a fight against the big 6’7” Vitali.
Haye also wouldn’t mind getting a rematch against Vitali’s brother IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, but he has no interest in fighting Haye again after easily beating him by a 12 round decision in July 2011.
Haye said to the Evening Standard “I want to knock Vitali Klitschko out in 2013. The contract for the fight has been agreed and is there ready to sign. Were it simply up to me, I’d be training to fight right now. Nobody seems to know if Vitali wants to set foot again in the ring, let alone face somebody as dangerous as me.”
Tyson Fury faces Kevin Johnson tonight; wants one of the Klitschkos next
By Michael Collins: Undefeated heavyweight contender Tyson Fury (19-0, 14 KO’s) has already counted tonight’s fight against American Kevin Johnson (28-2-1, 13 KO’s) as a victory in the win column and he’s looking past Johnson towards a much wanted fight against either Vitali Klitschko or his brother Wladimir Klitschko. It remains to be seen whether Fury can get past Johnson, but if he does he’ll likely get one of the Klitschkos in the ring because they’re interested in fighting him.
Boente: Vitali to make decision on career in mid-December
By Dwight Chittenden: WBC heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko will be making a decision about whether he’ll retire or not by mid-December according to his manager Bernd Boente. Vitali’s political career is what could be the factor for him retiring if he chooses to step away from the boxing game.
Haye thinks Vitali will want to fight him next year
Haye said to Sky Sports News “”The fight has already been agreed, the contract’s done – the money, the split, everything. We don’t need a new contract…In my opinion next year he will want to fight again at some stage and he will want a big fight. I’m the biggest fight out there and he knows that, he’s not stupid.”
Vitali is running for office in Ukraine and he could retire from boxing if elected. As for a fight against Haye, Vitali hasn’t been acting all that interested in fighting him despite having said in the past that he wanted to knock Haye out and improve upon the performance his younger brother IBF/IBO/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko made a year ago when he easily beat Haye by a 12 round unanimous decision in a one-sided fight.
The Best Match-Ups That Can Be Made Today: From Heavyweight To Bantamweight!
By James Slater: Wanna see a good fight? We’ve seen some great, dramatic fights this year (think Martinez-Chavez, Maidana-Karass, Brook-Jones, Garcia-Khan to name but a few) and 2012 has more promising action still in store. But next year, 2013, could be even better – in fact a whole lot better.
How? By making these fights become a reality.
This is the way I see it, anyway: from heavyweight on down, the best match-ups that can be made next year……..
Vitali Klitschko: Corrie Sanders was my toughest fight
WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has a great deal of respect for former WBO heavyweight champion Corrie Sanders (42-4, 31 KO’s), who was murdered in South Africa this past weekend by three unknown thugs that robbed the restaurant where Sanders was celebrating a party.
Vitali said to the German news site Bild Plus “Corrie Sanders was the most difficult opponent I ever fought. Corrie was fast, could give and take a punch. His style was dangerous and did not suit me. I was very pleased to be able to win this fight.”
Vitali stopped Sanders by an 8th round TKO to avenge his brother Wladimir Klitschko’s 2nd round knockout loss to Sanders a year earlier in 2003. Wladimir never fought Sanders again after the loss and it’s perhaps wise that he didn’t. Sanders seemed to really have Wladimir’s number, and it might have been a bad idea for Wladimir to fight him again. Sanders almost knocked Vitali down at one point after connecting with a big left hand when Vitali tried to slug with him.
Larry Merchant throws best jab of the night
To start off the night’s festivities, HBO showed a replay of forty-one year old Vitali Klitschko’s 4th round TKO destruction of Manuel Charr at the Olimpiyskia in Moscow, Russia. After the fight, announcer Jim Lampley asked Larry about the possibility of David Haye remaining a thorn in the side of the Klitschko brothers. Larry reminded Jim about Haye’s “Loser’s Limp” display done after his fight with Wladimir when he removed his shoe to show everyone his injured little toe. The implication was that was the reason for his loss. In Larry’s deliberate manner, he said Haye should have removed his shorts, which would have revealed the the real reason for his loss. It was obvious Larry meant we wouldn’t be seeing any Fruit of the Looms.
Well, Dr. Iron Fist had his boxer shorts on while showing a total disregard for anything Charr might try to do. Vitali kept both hands low, inviting Charr to try something. Charr’s strategy seemed to be to tire out Vitali by letting him tee off on him? Well, let that be a lesson to fledging boxers. If you simply hold up what you hope is a tight guard, but don’t punch back, your opponent is going to find a way to penetrate your defense, as did Vitali. Soon he was getting through with a variety of shots, and by the third round a cut had developed over Charr’s right eyelid. In the fourth, Referee Guido Callverli stopped the action long enough for the ringside physician to take a look. After twice wiping away a considerable amount of blood, the doctor said no go, and the fight was stopped. Larry and Max Kellerman thought it might have been a little premature. They alluded to Moscow’s lack of experience with world title fights. Lampley pointed out the physician seemed to have a German sounding name and not a Russian one, for all that’s worth.