Vitali Klitschko: Who is Next?
By Eugene Green
What a long and arduous fight for both men…methinks, a long period of recuperation is due. Alright, never mind: that was ridiculous! We’ve seen a similar kind of knee snapping in the Mike Tyson vs. Danny Williams, but in the case of Iron Mike he at least had found in himself the resolve to go on, giving the fans at least some amount of satisfaction. David Haye put it best: if you are an athlete in top shape, things like this don’t just happen to you.
We do not have to go far for a good example: Odlanier’s opponent Klitschko had shown up to every event in top shape, and performed remarkably in each one, save two. However, even despite the unusual shortness of the bout, two things become apparent to an observant viewer: Odlanier Solis needs to dedicate to maintaining a steady weight and Vitali needs to start thinking about retirement.
Odlanier is talented, do not get me wrong. If you are not talented, you do not knock out someone the caliber of David Haye in the amateurs (with headgear on!), and you do not win seventeen bouts, twelve of them by knockout. Only talent will you get you a victory when you show up at 271 lbs with a 6’1 frame.
It is especially shocking, when you keep in mind the fact that, like Haye, he was a cruiser. They are both competing at heavyweight now, but the British boxer bulked up without stacking up pounds of flab. Surely, that slows a boxer down, makes him more stationary, more vulnerable, and drains his stamina. Even under these conditions, Solis managed to decisively win every bout.
Note, that he won “despite”, not “due to” his physical condition. It can be likened to purposely tying one hand behind one’s back. Even so, you can see that he was getting to Vitali with his sharp combinations, and the champ was not able to do anything about it: the smaller man was just that much quicker. Klitschko was not in trouble or anything, but had Solis continued creating and exploiting openings in Vitali’s rather unusual easy-to-penetrate defense, who knows what could have happened? The Cuban’s talent and ability to win are unquestionable.
There are many ways to look at this monkey wrench. You can say that it was a freaky accident, and it not to be repeated, that Solis was doing extremely well in the opening round, and would have had his way, had the fight continued. The more dedicated sportsman may admit that fluctuating weight may have had something to do with the injury. After all, what does it mean to be a champion? It means to prepare for any probability, to have an answer to any kind of adversity in the ring. A champion treats the sport seriously, almost religiously; otherwise, he is just a fluke, who “happened” to grab the belt, and will not sit on the throne long. We would like to see that kind of an attitude from Solis on a permanent basis, as he is certainly as worthy a challenger as they come.
Vitali, on the other hand, is facing a factor he cannot control: aging. Looking at his face, I could not help but notice how his facial features have become drier, more elongated. The skin on his neck is drab, and he had a hint of some love handles (just a hint). His reaction has slowed considerably: did you see how an overweight (although, I admit, very fast) Solis managed to effortlessly break the distance and get past his guard, landing not one punch, but even combinations? I bet you anything in the world a prime Klitschko would have gone after him in the first round, and would have hurt him and kept hurting him until Solis had crumbled. Those primordial instincts are going. But is it something to be ashamed of, really?
In my book, the man never really lost. His hand, or any other body part, except his feet, obviously, never touched the canvass. His two losses were stoppages due to freaky occurrences he had zero control over (a huge gash in his eyebrow and a torn shoulder blade muscle). In both instances, he was widely ahead on the scorecards, and was dominating his opponents. He’s got the highest knockout ratio in heavyweight history, modern or ancient. The only three people who got away from getting knocked out by Vitali is Kingpin Johnson, who really needs to be wearing a dress after that fight, Shannon Briggs, and a German dude named Timo who must have been made out of the same material as Arnold.
What is he after? He has been dominant his entire career, and had been a champion for more than half of it. Is it the shadow of Lennox Lewis that is haunting him, pushing him to continue in a futile attempt to prove something to himself and his fans? The heavyweight scene’s decade-long quagmire of stagnation never presented him with a worthy challenge.
There are no opponents of his caliber, and so he waits around, convincingly disposing of every foe he can challenge. He waits for legendary battles, wanting to carve his name in the annals of boxing history in blood, like a true gladiator. The victories never stop.
While that in itself is impressive and speaks volumes of his tenacity, skill and preparation, a danger is beginning to lurk, more with every passing fight. Age is beginning to take its toll, dwindling his caliber to the level of his opposition.
Sooner or later, even a mediocre boxer will present a challenge to a man who used to be great in his prime. I am not going to name the exact time and place, but I can assure you it is no more than two years away.
So, for the sake of his health, and his rather glorious career, I wish that he stops before Father Time catches up with him.