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Steward: Wladimir vs. Rahman is the biggest fight now
By Scoop Malinowski
Hall of Fame trainer and HBO ringside boxing analyst Emanuel Steward was not as astonished as most everyone else with the sudden retirement this week by reigning WBC and Ring Magazine Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko at age 34.
Steward says Klitschko has been disabled somewhat by a myriad of injuries incurred from the Ukrainian's earlier sporting days as a kickboxing world champion. "From 1991 to 1993 he was the world superheavyweight kickboxing champion, I didn't know that. In 1991 he came to America and won the world championship in Las Vegas (at the age of 20). I didn't know that. He told me he believes a lot of his injuries now are from his career as a kickboxer. He still has pain from old injuries to his legs and shoulders. If you remember Muhammad Ali suffered leg injuries from his one fight with that kickboxer (martial artist Antonio Inoki), where he took a lot of kicks to the legs, which really affected his mobility after that."
Klitschko was a kickboxer first and did not concentrate on traditional boxing until his 20's. "He told me that he didn't get into boxing until much later than his brother did. He says that's why Wladimir's techniques are so much better, it's because he started boxing when he was 14."
Steward expressed respect for Vitali's decision to retire, unlike a few other boxing insiders with associations to Don King, who are publicly calling the former champion some de****able things for his choice to retire as champion. "Vitali is a very honorable man. He's a straight-forward, honest guy. He's a different person, who thinks differently. Rather than wait for his surgery to heal, the 60 or 90 days, then come back, he just decided to retire. He didn't feel it would be fair to the sport or the fans or anyone - he didn't think it would be fair to Rahman either - to make him wait again - so he walked away from seven, eight million dollars."
Some people tend to forget that Klitschko could have showed up and stepped in that ring this Saturday night and retired after round two or three because of the knee injury - and still collected the $8,000,000. He decided he wasn't at his best and the right thing to do was to not fight - and to not give the top-dollar paying public a mediocre effort. How someone like respected attorney Judd Burstein could say the things about Klitschko as he did on **********.com was embarrassingly nasty, and most likely motivated by something other than logic.
With the heavyweight division seemingly under the total control of the puppetmaster Don King - he controls all four champions (WBC Interim Rahman, IBF Byrd, WBA Ruiz and WBO Brewster) - the consequences of Vitali's relinquishing of the WBC title remains to be seen.
While some believe WBO/IBF number one ranked heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko could be frozen out of King's upcoming unification tournament, Steward is confident his man will factor into the equation, even though King has no promotional piece of him. "Who is the biggest attraction in the heavyweight division now," asked Steward? I answer easily, it's Wladimir Klitschko. "He's always in an exciting, dramatic fight, something always happens in his fights. People want to see Wladimir Klitschko. They want to see what happens when he steps in the ring. He made $1.6 million for Sam Peter in a non-title fight (the second-highest most viewed fight of the year after Hopkins vs. Eastman), Chris Byrd made $450,000 to defend his title (against DaVarryl Williamson). They tried all those heavyweight cards with Ruiz and Byrd but nobody cared. It's only going to be the same thing with Toney and Rahman. People are going to want to see Wladimir Klitschko."
"He's going to hold his position. He's in the number one position in the WBO and IBF. They can't hold him out of a title fight. If we have to take them to court, we will. The best move was fighting Sam Peter and knocking him off. He took the big risk, but it paid off."
While no one is chomping at the bit in anticipation at seeing Ruiz, Byrd, Rahman, Toney and Brewster compete against each other in a tournament - remember those dreadful early 80's heavyweight title fights of King-controlled fighters? - they seemed eerily familiar to the recent Rahman-Barrett yawner - Steward knows what the next big marquee heavyweight showdown will be.
"The biggest fight right now is Wladimir Klitschko and Rahman. That's the fight people will want to see. It's baby brother stepping in for older brother. He's the hottest attaction in the heavyweight division. They can only make money fighting Wladimir Klitschko. Chris Byrd can make $450,000 to defend his title. But he can make $6 or 7 million for fighting Wladimir."
By Scoop Malinowski
Hall of Fame trainer and HBO ringside boxing analyst Emanuel Steward was not as astonished as most everyone else with the sudden retirement this week by reigning WBC and Ring Magazine Heavyweight Champion Vitali Klitschko at age 34.
Steward says Klitschko has been disabled somewhat by a myriad of injuries incurred from the Ukrainian's earlier sporting days as a kickboxing world champion. "From 1991 to 1993 he was the world superheavyweight kickboxing champion, I didn't know that. In 1991 he came to America and won the world championship in Las Vegas (at the age of 20). I didn't know that. He told me he believes a lot of his injuries now are from his career as a kickboxer. He still has pain from old injuries to his legs and shoulders. If you remember Muhammad Ali suffered leg injuries from his one fight with that kickboxer (martial artist Antonio Inoki), where he took a lot of kicks to the legs, which really affected his mobility after that."
Klitschko was a kickboxer first and did not concentrate on traditional boxing until his 20's. "He told me that he didn't get into boxing until much later than his brother did. He says that's why Wladimir's techniques are so much better, it's because he started boxing when he was 14."
Steward expressed respect for Vitali's decision to retire, unlike a few other boxing insiders with associations to Don King, who are publicly calling the former champion some de****able things for his choice to retire as champion. "Vitali is a very honorable man. He's a straight-forward, honest guy. He's a different person, who thinks differently. Rather than wait for his surgery to heal, the 60 or 90 days, then come back, he just decided to retire. He didn't feel it would be fair to the sport or the fans or anyone - he didn't think it would be fair to Rahman either - to make him wait again - so he walked away from seven, eight million dollars."
Some people tend to forget that Klitschko could have showed up and stepped in that ring this Saturday night and retired after round two or three because of the knee injury - and still collected the $8,000,000. He decided he wasn't at his best and the right thing to do was to not fight - and to not give the top-dollar paying public a mediocre effort. How someone like respected attorney Judd Burstein could say the things about Klitschko as he did on **********.com was embarrassingly nasty, and most likely motivated by something other than logic.
With the heavyweight division seemingly under the total control of the puppetmaster Don King - he controls all four champions (WBC Interim Rahman, IBF Byrd, WBA Ruiz and WBO Brewster) - the consequences of Vitali's relinquishing of the WBC title remains to be seen.
While some believe WBO/IBF number one ranked heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko could be frozen out of King's upcoming unification tournament, Steward is confident his man will factor into the equation, even though King has no promotional piece of him. "Who is the biggest attraction in the heavyweight division now," asked Steward? I answer easily, it's Wladimir Klitschko. "He's always in an exciting, dramatic fight, something always happens in his fights. People want to see Wladimir Klitschko. They want to see what happens when he steps in the ring. He made $1.6 million for Sam Peter in a non-title fight (the second-highest most viewed fight of the year after Hopkins vs. Eastman), Chris Byrd made $450,000 to defend his title (against DaVarryl Williamson). They tried all those heavyweight cards with Ruiz and Byrd but nobody cared. It's only going to be the same thing with Toney and Rahman. People are going to want to see Wladimir Klitschko."
"He's going to hold his position. He's in the number one position in the WBO and IBF. They can't hold him out of a title fight. If we have to take them to court, we will. The best move was fighting Sam Peter and knocking him off. He took the big risk, but it paid off."
While no one is chomping at the bit in anticipation at seeing Ruiz, Byrd, Rahman, Toney and Brewster compete against each other in a tournament - remember those dreadful early 80's heavyweight title fights of King-controlled fighters? - they seemed eerily familiar to the recent Rahman-Barrett yawner - Steward knows what the next big marquee heavyweight showdown will be.
"The biggest fight right now is Wladimir Klitschko and Rahman. That's the fight people will want to see. It's baby brother stepping in for older brother. He's the hottest attaction in the heavyweight division. They can only make money fighting Wladimir Klitschko. Chris Byrd can make $450,000 to defend his title. But he can make $6 or 7 million for fighting Wladimir."
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