Will 2015 Be Wladimir Klitschko’s Finest Hour?

By Cliff Rold

As boxing begins to celebrate its year-end awards, in some cases prematurely, it’s not too early to wonder about what lies ahead.  Until the dust settles in Japan next week, it’s not clear who has had the finest 2014 in the ring.

One guy might have the schedule in front of him to make 2015 his. 

He’s the proud father of a newborn baby girl.  Any proud parent can tell you, when that first bundle arrives nothing has ever been better. 

That’s real life. 

For World Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko (63-3, 53 KO), there is still plenty of boxing life left.  As that little girl begins her journey, the 38-year old is closer to the end of his fistic journey.  How much closer? It's anyone’s guess.

His finest hour may only be at hand now. 

The champion’s most recent step into the ring was one of his best.  Kubrat Pulev was a legitimate top contender.  Klitschko, with a chip on his shoulder, whipped Pulev’s ass. 

It was his 17th consecutive IBF title defense.  If one recognizes his win over Ruslan Chagaev as the start of a new Heavyweight lineage, it was his tenth straight defense of history’s crown.
 
Few men have ever achieved numbers like that in the sport’s flagship division.  Klitschko is more than just numbers.  One of the biggest gate draws on the planet, and one of the biggest overall global television draws, Klitschko has put together a decade of consistency and dominance that stacks up with the greats.

It ain’t always pretty.

The numbers in the win column are pretty enough.

For all his accolades, one thing never universally bestowed on Klitschko is recognition as its best fighter in a single calendar year.  2015 could change that.

Now, take this with a caveat.  If we get something like a Shannon Briggs farce…err, fight…that would be generally disqualifying. 

Let’s assume we get better.  Let’s also assume the timing plays out for a three-fight year.

Currently, heavy (pun sort of intended) speculation has him facing consensus top-ten contender Bryant Jennings (19-0, 10 KO) in a US return in the first third of the year.  It would be Klitschko’s first fight in the US in years.  Jennings would be a big underdog.  As a first foe of 2015, it’s a solid start.  Jennings looked good in defeating Mike Perez and, before that, Artur Szpilka. 

He’s earned a shot.  What he can do with it is a different matter.

If Klitschko gets past Jennings, it gets more fun from there.

He will have a mandatory due next year against the man who replaces Pulev as ‘the best available contender Klitschko hasn’t defeated yet.’  That distinction could change in January (more on that shortly). For now Tyson Fury (23-0, 17 KO), with two wins over Dereck Chisora and a knockdown-trading win over Cruiserweight titlist Steve Cunningham, is in the hot seat.

Fury is a huge guy with deceptive boxing ability, good power, and a questioned chin.  He’s also as mouthy a Heavyweight as one could ask for.  He can talk butts into the seats even more than fight them in.

Klitschko-Fury is a stadium event whether it happens in Germany or the UK.  If it were to happen no later than late summer/early fall, there would be time for one more outing.

Fury is a big enough puncher to upset the apple cart, even if a long shot.  For the purpose of this exercise in pre-holiday what if’ing, let’s assume Klitschko can get by both Jennings and Fury.

Dial it back to that January mention.

It is ridiculous hyperbole to cast the WBC Heavyweight title bout between titlist Bermane Stiverne (24-1-1, 21 KO) and Deontay Wilder (32-0, 32 KO) as  ‘the most anticipated Heavyweight fight in years’ as some in the American press have done.  It might qualify as that in the States, but the US isn’t where Heavyweight boxing has lived for the last decade.  Such expressions are American chauvinism that likes to ignore the multi-millions watching Heavyweight boxing outside the US or the sold-out stadiums in Europe.

Heavyweight boxing lived here for a long time.  The expectation is it will come home again any day now.  Klitschko is good at extending the wait.

As good a fight as it is, less people will buy tickets to or watch Wilder-Stiverne around the world than Klitschko-Pulev last fall.  The purse split won’t be as high either. 

That said, Stiverne-Wilder is fun circle-the-date moment coming on January 17.  Showtime is starting the year off with a bang.  The winner, if they look strong enough, might supplant Fury as  

The only title Klitschko has never won in the Heavyweight division is the WBC title.  The only major belt he doesn’t have right now is the WBC title.  The only way the winner of Stiverne-Wilder will ever be seen as the real Heavyweight champion, and not just a fee provider to the WBC, is to beat Klitschko.

By the late fall or early winter next year, Klitschko versus the winner of Stiverne-Wilder could be all the rage.  Hell, that may be the case by January 18th. 

Everyone, everywhere, loves a big Heavyweight fight.  The lighter classes are great, often better in the ring, but two big men fighting for the game’s ultimate prize still trumps all.  Klitschko’s biggest fight to date, and the biggest Heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis-Vitali Klitschko, was his bout with David Haye. 

A for-all-the-marbles Heavyweight unification war would trump Haye. 

Klitschko would be 39 by then.  If he runs the table described above; if he goes through a trio of top ten contenders; if he completes his clean out of the Heavyweight division, of his era, in 2015, he may well start 2016 with baby Klitschko being tucked in by the Fighter of the Year.

Cliff Rold is the Managing Editor of BoxingScene, a founding member of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com