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I was on my way to Vegas, I had the flight and the hotel booked, and one of my good friends was going to watch a fight live for the first time. I was excited. Then Vitali Klitchko injured his knee and the entire card was cancelled. Now I don’t fault boxers that get injured in training. It’s part of the game and who knows maybe if Klitschko had fought injured and given a poor performance I’d be criticizing him for defrauding the public just like a lot of boxing writers ridiculed Buddy McGirt when he went ahead with his defense against Pernel Whitaker in March of 1993 despite having an injured shoulder which prevented him from throwing a left hook.
There’s also the other side of the coin too. Larry Holmes fought Ken Norton in 1978 with a torn left bicep and won a close decision in one of the greatest fights in history. I guess that’s the point though, Vitali Klitschko’s name shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Larry Holmes. You see the Easton Assassin was a true heavyweight champion, something that Vitali Klitschko wasn’t even though a recent column on Ring Magazine’s website compared his retirement to those of former champions Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano. I don’t fault the magazine for initially recognizing Vitali as the heavyweight champion because his accession to the Magazine’s championship was brought on by a series of circumstances which enabled him to become the champion according to a set criteria that had been established in 2001 in an effort to improve the sport. [details]
There’s also the other side of the coin too. Larry Holmes fought Ken Norton in 1978 with a torn left bicep and won a close decision in one of the greatest fights in history. I guess that’s the point though, Vitali Klitschko’s name shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as Larry Holmes. You see the Easton Assassin was a true heavyweight champion, something that Vitali Klitschko wasn’t even though a recent column on Ring Magazine’s website compared his retirement to those of former champions Gene Tunney and Rocky Marciano. I don’t fault the magazine for initially recognizing Vitali as the heavyweight champion because his accession to the Magazine’s championship was brought on by a series of circumstances which enabled him to become the champion according to a set criteria that had been established in 2001 in an effort to improve the sport. [details]