The 2018 Hall of Fame induction weekend will take place in New York next June. And on Tuesday we found out who would be attending the induction ceremony in Canastota; a modest village in Madison County. Amongst the three boxers in the Modern category, is Vitali Klitschko.
Not just a thoughtful politician – he is the mayor of Kiev in Ukraine – the former WBO and WBC Heavyweight champion, was a fine fighter with a robust chin and an unorthodox style. If anything, he was probably underappreciated. The induction is deserved. And undoubtedly, his younger brother Wladimir, will be hugging one of the most prominent positions in the audience seating.
But will he be taking in the ceremony as the retired pugilist who devotes so much time to his humanitarian causes, coupled with varied interests from golf to chess? Or will he be making one last foray into the ring?
Up until yesterday it would have seemed the former. But then Steve Bunce opened up a fresh idea. The prominent boxing writer, was speaking to the Daily Star Online about the options available to Tyson Fury. From David Price to Dillian Whyte; whilst the list is not endless, there are plenty of options for Fury, if and when he comes through his UKAD {UK Anti-Doping} investigation and has his boxing licence restored.
Bunce then finished off with a surprising option, saying: “I wonder if Wladimir {Klitschko} will change his mind next year. You don’t know do you? Stranger and odder and crazier coups have happened than Wladimir coming out of retirement, count the words, to get revenge over Fury first – and then go for {Anthony} Joshua.”
So, before the story gathers legs of real substance, is there anything in this? In one sense, we are in an age of journalism when an innocuous tweet can be generated into a prominent news story. So, should comments like this, be taken as a genuine possibility, or dismissed as an afterthought in an interview where someone, albeit Bunce, was just thinking out loud?
The context though, is that the comments were from Bunce himself. It can be dismissed as throwaway, but that is to dismiss one of the most informed boxing writers and pundits that Britain has to offer; if not the most.
Bunce is known for his insight. Any reaction piece from him in the aftermath of a fight where the substance of a boxing match has been clouded by controversy or fevered reaction, is worth reading. He tends to offer insight that many - often including other writers or pundits - don’t see or get.
But to tease out this argument, is such cognizance the same as insight into what is going on in someone’s {Klitschko in this case} life, their thought process, or more realistically, murmurings from inside their camp.
The reality is, we don’t know for certain, but Bunce’s words carry weight.
But what about the fighter himself? He has retired. But one of the most telling statements from his announcement in August, was from his manager Bernd Boente. Boente said “He has always emphasized that he wanted to retire if he didn’t have enough motivation anymore. Therefore this is definitively the right decision.”
The key word here being motivation. Yes, he is 41, but he pushed Anthony Joshua as far as he could, so it’s understandable that he may have felt he didn’t have enough to cut it as an elite boxer any longer. He would have been the underdog for the re-match. Maybe the hunger dissipated. It probably did.
But hunger returns. Last month, in a video posted online, strutting around a boxing ring, he said “I don’t know what should happen that I’m gonna come back, I don’t know what, because I’ve been there - I’ve done that - I’ve seen it, as a fighter I give it all.” This would seem to consolidate his sentiments in retiring.
But there was more. "It's my first boxing workout in almost a half a year out and you know what, I feel I’ve still got it."
“I’ve still got it.”
Until the hunger has fully abandoned itself. Until the instinct to train, to spar, to jab, the feel of a hook that no one saw coming, an uppercut that floors an opponent; until all that disappears, the possibility remains. At 41, the prospect is still there.
A return from Klitschko may not be odds-on, but rule nothing out.
