By Jake Donovan
For years, Wladimir Klitschko ruled the heavyweight division with an iron fist.
To this day, he still holds the weight class hostage – not through his actions in the ring, but through a sense of entitlement that he’s earned, but which hasn’t done any good lately for a sport in dire need of a happy ending these days.
As this goes to publish, the boxing world is waiting on a decision from the World Boxing Association (WBA) on whether to sanction a proposed showdown between Klitschko and Anthony Joshua. A favorable ruling would make such a pairing a unification bout of sorts, as the unbeaten Joshua currently owns the International Boxing Federation (IBF) title.
Having held at least one title for more than nine years and long ago ensured future enshrinement in the International Boxing Hall of Fame, Klitschko (64-4, 53KOs) has earned the right to demand as he pleases the terms of any proposed bout. He held that right as a titlist and eventually as the World (lineal) heavyweight king and as a worldwide box office draw, regularly packing venues and drawing monster ratings any time he stepped foot in the ring.
Unfortunately, it’s now contributed in part to grinding the heavyweight division to a halt.
It began with his actions days after conceding the heavyweight crown to unbeaten British behemoth Tyson Fury last November in arguably the worst legitimate World heavyweight championship contest in history. As was his contractual right to do so, Klitschko exercised his rematch clause, which meant that neither party could accept a bout in the interim.
Because of this, Fury – who obtained the WBA Super, IBF, WBO (World Boxing Organization) and IBO (International Boxing Organization) titles with his win – had no choice but to part with the IBF strap, as the victory also came with an overdue mandatory title defense in the form of then-unbeaten Vyacheslav Glazkov.
An attempt was made to push forward with a Fury-Glazkov bout, albeit a bit unconventional as Main Events – Glazkov’s promoter – called for an immediate purse bid in lieu of a 30-day negotiation period. The move came due to Klitschko’s plans for an immediate rematch, requesting the purse bid hearing to ensure Glazkov’s place in line to fight for the title and thus forcing Fury’s hand to either make an immediate defense or vacate the belt.
The latter took place, which resulted in the IBF calling for Glazkov to face unbeaten but largely untested Charles Martin vying for the vacant crown. Martin won by bizarre 3rd round injury stoppage, only to hand over the belt in his first defense, suffering a 2nd round knockout in his non-effort versus Joshua, who has since defended in a one-sided drubbing of Dominic Breazeale this past June.
Meanwhile, boxing fans were left to wait out the lingering saga that became Fury-Klitschko II. The matchup was not only undesirable on paper, but magnified by the fact that it was born from a Klitschko-demanded rematch to a dreadful affair to which few outside of the boxers’ camps were clamoring for a sequel.
Fittingly, Klitschko was the one left to suffer as the rematch never transpired due to initial difficulty in securing a fight date that lined up with the venue and networks involved, as well as the bizarre and troubling antics of his prior conqueror.
The two were due to clash in July, only for Fury – who apparently forgot to train – to suffer an injury and force yet another delay in their ongoing saga. The championship contest was pushed back to late October – due to take place one week from today, in fact – but was scrapped altogether when it was determined that Fury was mentally unfit to fight for the foreseeable future.
With the declaration came the decision on the part of the unbeaten Brit to vacate his remaining alphabet titles.
On the bright side, Klitschko – who turns 41 in March – had clearance to resume his career any way he saw fit. From there came hot rumors of a proposed clash with Joshua, which – had original talks materialized in time – would have landed on November 26 in London.
In a strange twist of fate, it also would have afforded Klitschko the opportunity to reclaim the belt that ignited his lengthy title reign. He claimed the IBF strap in a one-sided stoppage win over Chris Byrd in their April ’06 rematch, having soundly outpointed the American to begin his first title reign 5 ½ years prior.
The Byrd knockout kicked off a run that lasted 9 ½ years, racking up 18 successful title defenses along the way before shutting down versus Fury. A win over Joshua to begin a third title reign would have meant his latest reign beginning with the very same title, and from there going on the hunt to reclaim the rest of the belts.
He’d rather collect as many as possible as soon as possible. With that mindset came the demand that the “vacant” WBA Super title be at stake for a suggested bout with Joshua, which – if it gets done – will take place on December 10 in England.
There was also an early attempt to have the WBO title at stake, but the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body stuck to its guns and recognized Joseph Parker as having first dibs at the belt, with Andy Ruiz as the next highest available contender. That bout has been ordered and secured, fittingly also taking place December 10, in New Zealand.
While the boxing world waits with bated breath on the WBA’s decision, this seems to be the one time where nobody is asking why such a belt is even being made available.
The WBA long ago created a massive industry mess in claiming anywhere from 1-3 titlists per weight class. Champions who either unified the belts or reigned for an exceptional length of time were declared “Super” titlists, an upgrade from WBA “Regular” title status. Rather than have mandatory challengers waiting in line and not knowing against whom they are owed a shot, the WBA decided to make such boxers available for “interim” title fights.
The idea was that the beltholders would eventually face one another in efforts to keep the line moving. The problem is that there was more money to be gained by two or three boxers calling themselves “champion”, with the WBA far too often conceding to a promoter’s needs rather than contributing to cleaning up the sport.
To its credit, the WBA saw the error of its ways and made efforts to make amends. It actually started with the heavyweight division, as a seven-man tournament was created in efforts to consolidate the three belts.
Just one bout has taken place – Lucas Browne’s come-from-behind knockout win over Ruslan Chagaev to win the “Regular” title. The feat was mired in controversy, as Brown was alleged to have tested positive for a banned substance and thus stripped of the title.
The matter was eventually cleared up and he was due to face Fres Oquendo, who was given a bye and owed a title shot due to legal matters stemming from his own controversial clash with Chagaev more than two years ago. However, a lingering injury has placed the veteran heavyweight on the shelf, putting Browne back in the running to win a belt.
This piqued the interest of Klitschko, who – without the availability of a second belt at stake – was no longer as interested in facing Joshua as was the case when the matchup was initially floated. HBO – the American cable giant with whom Klitschko has enjoyed a longtime (though off-and-on) working relationship – was on board in airing such a bout, as December 10 remains open on its boxing schedule. It also meant eliminating some of the politics involved in a Joshua-Klitschko pairing, as Showtime secured U.S broadcast rights to all things Joshua earlier this year.
Despite the slew of options, none of the suggested fights have come any closer to materializing. Talks with Browne hit a wall, with Browne’s side claiming a severe breakdown in financial terms, while other reports suggest that legal matters prevent the unbeaten Aussie from moving forward with any fight in his career.
Meanwhile, Joshua-Klitschko remains on hold until a ruling comes down from the WBA.
Ironically, a move that would be viewed by fans and those in the media critical of anything that comes with a sanctioning body’s fingerprint as for the betterment of the sport would also mean the alphabet organization also bending (violating, really) its own rules. Sticking to its guns would force Klitschko to make a hard decision and move on with his career.
Once upon a time, it was suggested that as goes the heavyweight division, so goes boxing. Somehow we’ve reached a point where as goes the career of Klitschko – with or without a belt, and with or without a fight in queue – so goes the heavyweight division.
For more than nine years it meant being a part of a near-historic run. Now it just means waiting for heavyweight action to resume.
Twitter: @JakeNDaBox_v2
