By Cliff Rold

One wonders what it must be like to look across the ring at WBC Heavyweight titlist Vitali Klitschko (37-2, 36 KO).  He’s almost 6’8.  He usually weighs right at a cut 250.  And, barring injuries which have defeated him, only one man has ever heard the final bell.

One wonders what it must be like; wonders what Chris Arreola (27-0, 24 KO) is thinking as Saturday night at the Staples Center in Los Angeles grows closer by the second.
Arreola is the latest big American thing.  With a big punch, big personality, and sometimes too big belly, Arreola prepares to challenge for his first major Heavyweight belt against the best fighter in the division.

“But wait?” an astute observer might ask. 

“Isn’t younger brother Wladimir basically recognized as the Heavyweight champion right now?  He’s won all those belts, even Ring’s?”

And of course the answer to these questions is yes.  Wladimir, based on a series of wins, title claims, and activity has earned the right to call himself the ‘Man’ for now.  But really, deep down, the truth is most still think big bro is a little better.

A little tougher.

A little more of everything wanted in a Heavyweight and a lot more fun to watch.
His first loss didn’t tell the world those things.  In 2000, he tore his rotator cuff early in a WBO belt defense against Chris Byrd and, at the end of the ninth, elected not to continue.  HBO’s Larry Merchant played the opinion leader, questioning whether Vitali had the internal stuff he needed.  Merchant wasn’t wrong to do so.  Quitting, especially by a young fighter in his prime, is always suspect in boxing.  It’s a cruel sport.

His was a cruel fate.

No, it wasn’t until 2003 that Vitali began to change the narratives which dogged him.  Already in place as the WBC mandatory to then World Heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, he was brought in on short notice to replace an injured Kirk Johnson.  He stunned Lewis early but couldn’t put him away and a cut which opened off a Lewis punch sealed his fate after round six.  Klitschko was looking the worse for wear but could he have pulled it out?

He acted like he could have.  He acted like he would have walked through hell to find out.  After that, fans didn’t question his guts anymore and he looked like a star in the making.

Fast forward to September 2009.  Vitali has had only five fights since Lewis.  He won them all, but was out of the ring for close to four years, part of that time for retirement and other parts for injury.  He will be 38 when he enters the ring this weekend, an advanced age for a fighter even in an era where men seem to fight longer than they used to.

Klitschko is expected to win this weekend.  Winning big would be no surprise.  And if he does, when he does, he will exit the ring still quietly considered the best in his class but could he have been more?

Is it too late for more, too late for greatness?

Looking at his record could fool anyone into thinking he might have already achieved greatness.  Few Heavyweights have ever had a higher knockout percentage at almost thirteen years into their pro tenure and he’s beaten his share of okay fighters.  He fights in an era where few great fighters dwell so his opportunities to stand with the best of all time have been limited.

That he could have stood there is within the realm of the possible.

That he doesn’t stand there now shouldn’t be questioned by anyone.  He doesn’t. 
Numbers are good, but they rarely tell a whole tale.  He came of age in a better division than today’s and, fighting mostly in Germany, missed out on men who could have strengthened his resume.  There is no David Tua, no Hasim Rahman, not even a John Ruiz.  There might have been and losing those four years of his career has had an immeasurable impact. 

When Klitschko was sidelined, hasty call or not, Ring and HBO were getting behind Vitali to be the standard bearer for the Heavyweights.  His close call with Lewis, and Lewis’s decision to retire without facing Vitali again, conveyed legitimacy upon him no other Heavyweight had or has had since.

As good as his brother is Vitali had something in his losses Wladimir never did.  He always lost on his feet.  He didn’t run out of gas and fall out against Ross Purrity, he didn’t get punked by Corrie Sanders (in fact, he knocked Sanders out), and he didn’t fall down barely touched against Lamon Brewster.  He stopped on an injury to Byrd while well ahead on the cards and, all these years later, he still comes across as wanting a few more rounds with Lewis.

In the four years he lost, the chance to clean out the class would have been there and with the chance he could have made the only case any fighter can.  He could have beaten who was there and kept on doing it.  Maybe he would have fallen short, got caught with a big shot and relegated back to the pile of mediocrity which marks this Heavyweight era.  Or maybe not.

It says a lot about Vitali that, after all those years away, he returned and stomped two legitimate top ten contenders in Samuel Peter (to regain the WBC belt he won in 2004 against Sanders) and Juan Carlos Gomez.  Few fighters have ever been away as long and returned to the game with similar results. 

Against Arreola he has another foe who can give him a quality highlight.  A couple more years of wins like his last two might push him into discussions he doesn’t quite merit yet but the question remains of whether it is too late, whether he has enough time.
There might be some room for optimism in camp Vitali.  Jersey Joe Walcott didn’t win the Heavyweight title until he was 37, pushing himself from ‘good fighter’ to future Hall of Famer.  George Foreman worked his way into chatter about the top ten Heavyweights of all time when he competed gamely with Evander Holyfield at age 42 and then actually won the title he’d lost to Muhammad Ali twenty years earlier from Michael Moorer at age 45.

He’s already older than Walcott; asking him to stick around as long as Foreman is a heavy order.

Vitali Klitschko possesses a lot of the elements desired in a great Heavyweight.  Could he have been one but can he still be one?

The best he can do is to provide more clues this Saturday.  Time will tell from there. 

The Weekly Ledger

But wait, there’s more…

Cliff’s Notes…

With only one major fight airing in the U.S. this week, there was no picks of the week piece.  However, if the chance is there, do check out the Jr. Featherweight tilt between WBA titlist Bernard Dunne and Poonsawat Kratingdaenggym.  Dunne’s last fight, with Ricardo Cordoba, was an epic fight of the year candidate.  This could be too…Also keep an eye out for WBC Light Heavyweight titlist Jean Pascal.  He’s in action against a worn Silvio Branco but every win gets him closer to what could be big fights with Chad Dawson or Lucian Bute…If Mayweather-Marquez gets near one million pay-per-views, great.  How awesome would it be if boxing did three major shows and neared 3-million buys on just those in 2009.  We can turn off the life support the sport is allegedly on now right?..I don’t know why anyone would trip about Shane Mosley calling out Mayweather in the ring.  It used to be par for the course.  Go find Joe Frazier snapping at Jimmy Ellis after Ellis beat Floyd Patterson or Ali woofing at lots of folks.  It’s good theatre and, much as some likes to pretend it’s so crass, it’s good business.

Cliff Rold is a member of the Ring Magazine Ratings Advisory Panel and the Boxing Writers Association of America.  He can be reached at roldboxing@hotmail.com