Yes, boxing fans, there is heavyweight life after May 2

By Lyle Fitzsimmons

It’s not a dream.

There is actually a heavyweight fight out there, after all these years, that’s simply got to get made.

Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder, come on down.

As soon as possible, please.

No disrespect to the now 17 foes against whom Dr. Steelhammer has now racked up 18 title defenses since obliterating Chris Byrd in 2006, but the gloved world has finally evolved to a point where it’ll no longer accept another in an assembly line of overmatched Americans and anonymous Europeans.

Sure, Tyson Fury is interesting. And yes, Vyacheslav Glazkov is unbeaten.

But of all the names out there for a guy perfect for a decade, Wilder’s is the only one that resonates.

Because the “Bronze Bomber” needs Klitschko for authenticity.

And no less importantly, Klitschko needs the “Bronze Bomber” for validation.

Don’t believe me? Ask Max Kellerman.

“All you can do is beat the guys who are around when you’re champ,” HBO’s scruffy one said before Klitschko outgunned Bryant Jennings at a close to jam-packed Madison Square Garden. “He suffers from Larry Holmes syndrome. All you can do is beat the guys in front of you, and he’s beaten them thoroughly for a long, long time and really established himself among heavyweight champions.”

Only Canastota-honored names like Holmes and Joe Louis exceed Klitschko’s run of duration and dominance, but it’s still going to take beating a guy like Wilder – not another Alex Leapai or Mariusz Wach – for the boxing public to agree to what the boxing record books clearly suggest.

That reality was clear from both the HBO broadcast crew’s call of the fight and from a determined insurgence of Twitter arbiters, who somehow concluded that a comparative novice surviving for 12 rounds was equivalent to a comparative novice actually coming close to winning the fight.

This just in… it wasn’t.

In fact, I scored it 117-110 – or nine rounds to two, with one even.

Kellerman, though, still felt the need to baffle Klitschko with the idea of a rematch while completely sidestepping even a mention of Wilder – who, by the way, holds the one recognized title belt that Klitschko hasn’t claimed and the sort of Tyson-esque KO mystique that no other big man possesses.

Wilder, incidentally, is also The Ring’s No. 2 contender at heavyweight behind only Alexander Povetkin, whom Klitschko dropped four times in an October 2013 blowout in Moscow.

It was a missed chance for HBO to pump the most important heavyweight bout since Lewis-Tyson, but, as fans consider the sport’s long-term health in the aftermath of Saturday’s fiscal orgy at welterweight, the more they’ll realize the value big men can still hold when it comes to engaging the mainstream.

Like it or not, Klitschko has been the preeminent heavyweight for the better part of a decade. And, recognize him or not, Wilder is precisely the sort of flashy, outspoken and well-connected (read: Al Haymon) commodity who’ll make it worthwhile for the European star to play another American show.

“I know I'm good for the sport,” Wilder told me a few months back.

“I know I'm going to be a mega-superstar one day. But I'm not in that moment now. I'm still trying to work my way to it, so I don't want to get a big head or carried away about something that I haven't dwelled in yet. But when it does come, I'll just feel like it's a goal accomplished.”

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This week’s title-fight schedule:

FRIDAY
WBC super featherweight title – Tokyo, Japan
Takashi Miura (champion/No. 2 IWBR) vs. Billy Dib (No. 6 WBC/No. 23 IWBR)
Miura (28-2-2, 21 KO): Fourth title defense; Unbeaten since 2011 (8-0, 5 KO)
Dib (39-3, 23 KO): Eighth title fight (4-3); Held IBF title at 126 pounds and IBO title at 130
Fitzbitz says: The Aussie has won three straight since being ground down by Evgeny Gradovich, but the fact that his foes had a combined 27 losses hardly inspires road confidence. Miura by decision

Vacant WBO lightweight title – Las Vegas, Nev.
Takahiro Ao (No. 1 WBO/No. 20 IWBR) vs. Raymundo Beltran (No. 4 WBO/No. 3 IWBR) 
Ao (27-3-1, 12 KO): Ninth title fight (5-3); Third fight outside Japan (2-0, 2 KO)
Beltran (29-7-1, 17 KO): Third title fight (0-1-1); Fourth fight in Las Vegas (3-0, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Beltran was ripped off against Burns in Scotland and had no answers for Crawford in Omaha, but he’ll finally clear the hurdle with a road-tripping ex-featherweight. Beltran by decision

SATURDAY
WBA/WBC/WBO welterweight titles – Las Vegas, Nev.
Floyd Mayweather Jr. (WBA/WBC champ/No. 1 IWBR) vs. Manny Pacquiao (WBO champ/No. 2 IWBR)
Mayweather (47-0, 26 KO): Fourth WBC defense; Held titles at 130, 135, 140 and 154 pounds
Pacquiao (57-5-2, 38 KO): Second WBO defense; Held titles at 112, 122, 130, 135, 140 and 154 pounds
Fitzbitz says: While Pacquiao is surely better than anything Mayweather has recently faced, there’s a far more telling distance between Floyd and the Rioses, Bradleys and Algieris. Mayweather in 10

WBO featherweight title – Las Vegas Nev.
Vasyl Lomachenko (champion/No. 3 IWBR) vs. Gamalier Rodriguez (No. 1 WBO/No. 24 IWBR)
Lomachenko (3-1, 1 KO): Second title defense; Second fight in Las Vegas (1-0, 1 KO)
Rodriguez (25-2-3, 17 KO): First title fight; Seventh fight in United States (4-2, 1 KO)
Fitzbitz says: Lomachenko’s in perhaps the most anti-climactic undercard position in the sport’s history, but he’ll nonetheless use it to prove he’s the world’s best five-fight commodity. Lomachenko in 9

Last week's picks: 2-1 (WIN: Takayama, Klitschko; LOSE: Jack)
2015 picks record: 22-7 (75.8 percent)
Overall picks record: 661-230 (74.1 percent)

NOTE: Fights previewed are only those involving a sanctioning body's full-fledged title-holder – no interim, diamond, silver, etc. Fights for WBA "world championships" are only included if no "super champion" exists in the weight class.

Lyle Fitzsimmons has covered professional boxing since 1995 and written a weekly column for Boxing Scene since 2008. He is a full voting member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Reach him at fitzbitz@msn.com or follow him on Twitter – @fitzbitz.