Wilder Wonders if Wladimir Klitschko is Finished After Fury Flop

By Keith Idec

Deontay Wilder was as perplexed as anyone by Wladimir Klitschko’s listless performance against Tyson Fury.

Wilder expected Klitschko, about a 4-1 favorite, to win convincingly Nov. 28 in Dusseldorf, Germany. The WBC heavyweight champion, who was a potential opponent for Klitschko, is anxious to see how the 39-year-old Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs) responds in his rematch against England’s Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) later this year.

“I was very disappointed that Klitschko didn’t show up and do the things that we expect of him and what he was capable of doing,” Wilder said on a recent conference call. “There could be many reasons why that Klitschko didn’t show up, because that wasn’t him as a fighter. Klitschko, as a person, his body was there. But as a fighter, his mind, something was missing. That ain’t what we’re used to seeing out of Wladimir Klitschko.

“But I think Father Time has knocked on his door, and he don’t wanna let him in yet. But I think he’s knocking at his door, and that fight proved it. But there’s talk of a rematch, and we’re gonna see the second time around. So some people are still in a daze of [disbelief], because they can’t believe what they’ve seen. Just like my career many times, people make excuses for me, they say different things, even criticize me, because they can’t understand why I’m able to do what I do, and how I do it, when I do it. So it’s the same thing with Klitschko. So we’re gonna see the second time around – was this real or fiction?”

Wilder (35-0, 34 KOs), once one of Klitschko’s sparring partners, is scheduled to defend his title against Poland’s Artur Szpilka (20-1, 15 KOs) on Saturday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Showtime will televise Wilder-Szpilka as the main event of a telecast that’ll start at 10 p.m. ET with another 12-round heavyweight championship match, which will send Ukraine’s Vyacheslav Glazkov (21-0-1, 13 KOs) against Charles Martin (22-0-1, 20 KOs), of Carson, California, for the vacant IBF title.

Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.