By Keith Idec
Wladimir Klitschko talked again Thursday about being obsessed with winning back three of his heavyweight titles.
The former champion claims losing the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO championships to Tyson Fury 17 months ago has made him a different fighter. The complacency that developed during nearly a decade-long reign as the heavyweight division’s dominant fighter is gone.
It has been replaced, according to the huge Ukrainian legend, with a hunger he has hasn’t had for a long time. Klitschko hasn’t had much to prove since Lamon Brewster beat him by fifth-round technical knockout 13 years ago in Las Vegas.
“It’s a great motivation for me,” Klitschko told HBO Sports’ Kieran Mulvaney during an interview Thursday. “I’m totally motivated and I’m obsessed with my goal to become a champion again.”
Other than the three knockdowns he had to overcome to defeat Samuel Peter 11½ years ago in Atlantic City, Klitschko hadn’t really encountered any adversity in the ring until Fury upset him in a fight Klitschko entered as a 4-1 favorite in November 2015.
Now Klitschko’s skeptics wonder whether the 41-year-old contender has anything left? Others think that Saturday’s intriguing fight in London has come too soon for Anthony Joshua, England’s emerging superstar.
Joshua has knocked out each of his 18 professional foes, but Klitschko has been boxing the same amount of time – 27 years – as Joshua has been alive. Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) also has nearly four times as much professional experience as Joshua.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist made his pro debut just 3½ years ago, on the same day Klitschko made a 15th consecutive heavyweight title defense by beating then-undefeated Alexander Povetkin by unanimous decision in Moscow.
Still, Klitschko acknowledged Thursday that many boxing observers wonder, “Or it’s too late for me? That’s the question that everybody have. And that’s why attention to this fight is incredible.”
Another question everyone should have is, for all of Klitschko’s talk about being motivated and obsessed, will he fight accordingly?
He certainly didn’t fight with any sense of urgency during his 12-round defeat to Fury (25-0, 18 KOs). Klitschko clearly was losing that fight in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The longer it continued, the more obvious it became Klitschko needed a knockout to win. He never fought as if that was the case.
An apathetic Klitschko seemed almost OK with losing his titles, as if that once-unfathomable outcome was acceptable as long as he didn’t need to take risks that might’ve resulted in his first knockout defeat since Brewster beat him. Klitschko was just 28 then, obviously able to rebuild his psyche and his career, thanks in large part to the help of his late trainer, Emanuel Steward.
Yet even during his 9½-year reign as a heavyweight champion, Klitschko was always content to win ugly. That’s largely why, even as he recorded one convincing victory after another, Klitschko couldn’t captivate American fight fans with any regularity.
A lack of capable opponents certainly didn’t help his cause historically, but Klitschko could’ve endeared himself more to boxing fans by being more aggressive. Winning, naturally, means more than anything.
But if Klitschko at least would’ve made more of a consistent effort to look good while winning, he might’ve made a stronger case for where he ranks in heavyweight history.
Unfortunately, Klitschko didn’t just hold on to the IBF title for nearly 10 years. He held on to many of his opponents as well, sometimes enough to warrant point deductions.
Nevertheless, Joshua thinks Klitschko doesn’t get enough credit for winning 22 straight fights after losing to Brewster or for making 18 consecutive championship defenses from 2006-2015. The unbeaten IBF heavyweight champion called Klitschko “underrated” during a conference call Wednesday.
“Heavyweight boxing comes with bigger prize money, more attention,” Joshua said. “To stay disciplined for that long is a serious task, man. You know what I mean? And him and his brother [Vitali], they’ve done well. They’ve done well to reign for that long.
“If you put yourself in that position or I put myself in that position, and I’d done that, I would want credit. I would wanna go down – I would say, ‘I’m one of the greatest. … No one could beat me for the last 10 years.’ It’s a good achievement, and I would wanna be recognized for what I’ve achieved in the sport.”
Klitschko could change at least some of the public’s perception of him if – win or lose – he fights aggressively against Joshua. Proving that losing his titles truly did motivate him is important if Klitschko wants to show choosing to fight Joshua isn’t about accepting an eight-figure parting gift and heading toward retirement.
Klitschko can’t afford to the enter the ring at Wembley Stadium on Saturday and employ the jab-and-grab, safety-first style that has turned off so many fight fans over the years. Merely making it to the final bell shouldn’t be Klitschko’s goal – not with the world watching a heavyweight fight widely viewed as the biggest since Lennox Lewis knocked out Mike Tyson in June 2002.
He needs to test Joshua’s chin, especially early if Klitschko intends to create doubt within the defending champion’s mind. That’ll require taking risks Klitschko has avoided over the past decade.
Deontay Wilder thinks we’ll see a far different Klitschko on Saturday than the passive, sluggish fighter that allowed Fury to take his titles.
“I see by him losing, it crushed him,” Wilder said during a conference call earlier this week. “It took him all the way back down. And now he’s rebuilding himself. He’s got that hunger back. He’s inspired.”
Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs), the undefeated WBC heavyweight champion who wants to fight the winner, expects those feelings to make Klitschko let his hands go against Joshua.
If Wilder is correct, what does Klitschko have to lose by being more aggressive than usual? If he gets knocked out, it’ll be his fourth defeat by knockout or TKO, not his first.
Besides, Klitschko is a 2-1 underdog because he is perceived to be way past his prime, probably too old to threaten a powerful opponent 14 years younger than him. If Klitschko gets knocked out, it won’t hurt his legacy because of his age and the fact that he has accepted this dangerous challenge coming off a 17-month layoff.
For the first time in a long time, maybe for the first time in his career, Wladimir Klitschko is supposed to lose Saturday. If the former champion actually is motivated and hungry again, it shouldn’t result in him fighting like he has accepted that subservient role.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
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