By Joe Harrison

Many of us saw it coming, so it was only a matter of time. That time has come. Finally, Vitali Klitschko’s injuries got the best of him. Therefore, he’s hanging up the gloves and retiring from boxing.

Ever since his loss to Chris Byrd, it was evident that Klitschko’s body was prone to injury. It seemed like there was an injury problem for every big fight.

Typically, Klitschko’s (35-2, 34 KO’s) only two losses in his professional career resulted from some form of injury. Was there any reason to believe that he would stop getting injured against tough opponents? There obviously wasn’t.

When Klitschko faced Chris Byrd in April of ‘00, it appeared that Vitali was on his way to victory. However, after the 9th round, Klitschko would forfeit the match due to a shoulder injury, handing the victory to Byrd. This didn’t help Klitschko’s reputation, and many began to believe that he didn’t have enough heart to be a good boxer.

This changed when Klitschko faced Lennox Lewis in June of ’03. Klitschko was beating Lewis on the cards and appeared to be on the verge of an upset against the world heavyweight champion. But when a punch from Lewis caused Vitali to sustain a vicious cut above the eye, things began to look ugly. During the 6th round, the cut had expanded and blood poured down the side of Vitali’s face like a river.

Although Klitschko was more than willing to continue boxing, the fight was brought to a halt, and the win was awarded to Lewis. But because of Klitschko’s heart and bravery, and being ahead on each of the judges’ scorecards, he redeemed himself and was respected by many boxing fans everywhere.

Still though, we could only wonder if it was possible for Klitschko to get through a mega fight without any injury problems. We could only wait and see.

Klitschko eventually won the WBC championship by scoring an 8th round technical knockout over Corrie Sanders. Then he defended the title by defeating Danny Williams by 8th round technical knockout. Even though he got through those fights and earned the knockout wins, word spread that Vitali’s hands were swollen and he needed time to let them heal. So apparently, he still wasn’t completely injury free after all. We hoped that the injuries wouldn’t catch up with him.

There was much excitement when it was announced that Klitschko was to make the second defense of his WBC title against mandatory challenger Hasim Rahman. Rahman was a legitimate contender and an ex-champion who knocked out Lennox Lewis. It appeared to be a great match-up for the public and the sport.

It wasn’t long before Klitschko injured his thigh and was forced to postpone the fight. Following the thigh injury, Klitschko postponed the fight again because of back problems. This eventually led to another announcement, this time that Klitschko needed surgery on his back, and would be out for another few months.

When Klitschko and Rahman were finally ready to fight on November 12th, we knew that it was a big fight for both boxers. Was it possible for Klitschko to make it through this fight injury free? Well, he never made it to the fight. With only one week left to go, Klitschko claimed that his knee was injured and couldn’t go through with the fight. The WBC was merciful, and instead of stripping Klitschko of the WBC title, he was given a chance to find out how bad the damage was. They would make a ruling on how much time they’d allow him to heal and reschedule, perhaps 3 months or 2 months. Then, all of a sudden, Klitschko announced his retirement.

Klitschko’s surgery was a success, but the doctor said that it would be 6 months before Vitali could box again. Realizing that he still had the championship, but understanding that the injuries were continuously created problems, Klitschko retired while still being on top.

Although it was just a matter of time before Klitschko’s injury problems caught up with him, it’s still unfortunate that it happened at this time. We may never know who would’ve won between Klitschko and Rahman.

Even more discomfort develops when we consider how great Klitschko would’ve been if it weren’t for his injury problems. Now that it appears Rahman will be crowned the WBC champion, and we have a new future ahead of us. However, there’s always the chance that Vitali Klitschko will decide to return and make another run at the championship. But we’ll have to wait for quite some time before that’s even possible.