Ukrainian boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko (64-5) has turned his back on a rematch opportunity with England’s heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and announced his retirement.
The pair had an epic encounter at Wembley back in April in front of 90,000 fans, trading knockdowns before the youth of 27-year-old Joshua triumphed over the 41-year-old Klitschko with an 11th round stoppage.
Known as “Dr. Steelhammer”, Klitschko has had an extraordinary career, first emerging on the international stage when he won the super heavyweight gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
He turned pro soon after, winning his first world title in 2000. He successfully defended a version of the world heavyweight title 23 times during his twenty-year professional career.
That is second only to the great Joe Louis, who successfully defended his world heavyweight title 25 times between 1937 and 1948.
He and his older brother Vitali (45-2) dominated the heavyweight division like no other siblings have ever done before.
In the alphabet soup world of boxing titles, Vitali defended the WBC belt 11 times between 2004 and 2012, while Wladimir usually held all the other major titles available.
Critics of Wladimir argued that he is dull and boring, both inside and outside the ring, and that he was a dominant champion in an era when the heavyweight division wasn’t strong.
But he always carried himself professionally and he fought every contender that was out there, with the obvious exception of his older brother.
His ring work proved to be clinically effective. He typically used his boxing skills (especially his jab) to break his opponents down before finishing them off late.
And trash talking wasn’t his go. He is intelligent and articulate. He was also always in good physical shape, unlike many heavyweights.
Notable wins in Wladimir’s professional career were over Chris Byrd (twice) and Alexander Povetkin.
His retirement news was initially made via a statement on his website, which subsequently crashed due to the incredible amount of global traffic it generated.
In part, the statement read:
“I deliberately took a few weeks to make my decision, to make sure I had enough distance from the fight at Wembley Stadium. As an amateur and a professional boxer, I have achieved everything I dreamed of.”
John Coomer
Roar Guru
It will be interesting to see what happens now J.C. Parker has a defence against Hughie Fury in England in September, so that will see him out for at least this year (and he would be no certainty to win that either). Wilder would now be Joshua's most marketable option, that's for sure. Before the Klitschko news broke, Wilder was in talks for a possible November bout with Cuban Luis 'King Kong' Ortiz (27-0), but he may rethink that now with Joshua being available after Klitschko's retirement decision. But Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev (25-1) is the mandatory contender for Joshua's IBF belt, so that is another option for Joshua to take if he doesn't want Wilder next. I think Joshua and Wilder are on an inevitable collision course either late this year or in the first half of next year, which will be great to see.
J.C.
Roar Pro
John, have you heard where this will leave the heavyweight division at present??? Is WBO champ Josh Parker or WBC Champ Deontay Wilder going to set up in a massive unification bout that the heavyweight division has not seen in many years, or is Joshua just going to find other opponents??
John Coomer
Roar Guru
I agree with you re Vitali Mike, he probably just shades Wlad in terms of never having been knocked down and his 87% career KO percentage. And in the only two fights he lost in his career, he was ahead on points before being stopped by a cut (Lewis) and an injury (Byrd). Both great fighters.
Mike Julz
Guest
One of the greats no doubt about that. Him and his brother dominated in probably the worst era in heavyweight history. But they were the Kings in their era no matter what. I rate Vitali better than him. But Wlad was great on his own. Should definitely be in the Hall of Fame if there is one.
Mike Julz
Guest
At the end of the day you can only fight whats in front of you. Wladimir dominated his era. He fought everyone and beat everyone. He went toe to toe with Joshua, only for that vicious uppercut that got him bad. I believe he was leading on the scorecards. But is he an alltime great, definitely. I rate his brother Vitali higher than him tho. But Wlad should be top 15 of all time.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
I take your point Grafter, but both Louis and Klitschko had unbeaten stretches of about 11 years. That puts them in the same ball park in my opinion. Even though there are a lot of belts these days, Klitschko fought anyone that was around during his era. Although the division generally wasn't strong during that time, he did win most of his bouts very easily, even if a lot of them were more clinical boxing exhibitions than a lot of heavyweight fans might like to see. So from those perspectives I believe Klitschko would hold his own in any era.
The Grafter
Guest
A credit to boxing definately. An all time great, Im not so sure? With the number of belts now, he record of 23 defences could not be compared to Louis. The calibre of opponents that he largely defeated were ordinary. I would struggle to get him onto a top 15 of Heavyweights.
John Coomer
Roar Guru
I agree J.C., I would have loved to see that too and he certainly deserved to go out that way after all he achieved. He almost got the win against Joshua but couldn't quite get there. But he certainly didn't lose any fans with that performance at the age of 41.
J.C.
Roar Pro
I think its really disappointing that he did not retire as the champion, as he throughly deserved to. He will go down as one of the Heavyweight greats. Its a real pity that he wont fight again, but he is better off retiring now before his career goes down hill. Great career and hope he enjoys his retirement
Ray
Roar Rookie
One of the all-time greats and a tremendous ambassador for the sport.