http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2218462

After having to pull out of the Rahman fight due to knee problems, Vitali has called it a career. According to the story, the main knee problem was a torn ACL which has now been repaired. The saddest part of all of this is that Don King now has control of all of the heavyweight contenders basically and can shut out anyone else who might be able to make the division interesting again. That and the fact that Vitali was the one person who seemed likely to be able to unify the titles once more instead of having 183 different people claiming to be champ.

11/10/2005 12:32:52 PM

explain this whole "unifying" thing to me i never understood it

how can there be more han one champion per class?

11/10/2005 12:56:17 PM

there are different boxing affiliations that each have a champion
Vitali was the closest to winning all belts for each diff. affiliation

11/10/2005 1:07:27 PM

^^That is part of why boxing has lost so much popularity. Currently most people recognize the WBC, WBA, IBF, and WBO as the major sanctioning bodies in boxing. Each one awards a title and at the moment, in the heavyweight division 4 different men own the 4 titles. To try to give a little clarity to the picture, Ring Magazine (one of the more respected boxing publications out there) recognizes one unofficial champ in each weight class to try to cut through some of the politics (see the Roy Jones, Antonio Tarver, Glen Johnson saga for a recent example of the politics I'm talking about). Vitiali had held that title as well when he retired. Hopefully that clears up your question a little.

11/10/2005 2:00:51 PM

boxing has gotten too gay to worry about these days

only the mexican matches with all offense, no defense interest me lately

11/10/2005 2:02:53 PM

Vitali is a fag and so is his brother. THey should just get rid of these no talent heavies. Long live Mayweather

11/10/2005 2:04:15 PM

Quote :

"Vitali is a fag and so is his brother"

we should have some kind of test to make sure dumb motherfuckers never get to post in sports talk

like this guy

Vitali is one tuff SOB and he has a PHD, how many athletes do you know that can speak like 5 languages and has a freaking PHD as the heavy weight champion of the world

you, sir...are a moron

[Edited on November 10, 2005 at 2:08 PM. Reason : ]

11/10/2005 2:08:35 PM

you sir are a moron. I gives a fuck about his academic backround. What is this the third fight against rahman hes backed out of. He gave lewis shit for retiring and never defending again so where is he going. He never did anything but lose to lewis to be crowned champ anyway. Danny williams is good...

11/10/2005 2:15:40 PM

Quote :

"I gives a fuck about his academic backround."

dubya tee eff?

11/10/2005 2:17:20 PM

it is a shame that the Heavyweight Division has deterioated so much, with Don King controlling the heavyweights I doubt Calvin Brock will get a shot at a belt unless he signs with that Pariah.

11/10/2005 2:20:40 PM

Now that he controls all the belts at least hes talking about a heavyweight tournament.

11/10/2005 2:37:23 PM

this is so new!

11/10/2005 2:51:43 PM

Go ahead, have a tournament with Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Lamon Brewster, and now Rahman. Byrd and Ruiz are both looking like huge frauds. Brewster is entertaining, but not by any means a skilled boxer. He got his belt by letting Wlad tire himself out by hitting him in the face. True, it shows heart, but he showed nothing else in that fight. Rahman when he comes prepared is one of the very few fighters who had a chance at beating Vitali. And Lennox wasn't having health problems when he retired. I'd like to see you get back into a boxing ring after back surgery and repairing a torn ACL in less than a year. I'm not saying Vitali was one of the all time greats, but he was the best we had left once Lennox left.

11/10/2005 2:53:18 PM

Quote :

"What is this the third fight against rahman hes backed out of. He gave lewis shit for retiring and never defending again so where is he going. He never did anything but lose to lewis to be crowned champ anyway. Danny williams is good..."

the same danny williams who got TKO'd by Vitali in Dec. 2004? y'know, the one that's fought several chumps to pad his 34-4 record... i believe he lost to Michael Sprott before that, who's pretty awful. His next match is against Audley Harrison, a guy who has beaten Julius Francis, who, you guessed it, beat the hell out of Danny Williams. Also, Francis was KO'd by Vitali in the 2nd round. Hell, Vitali got the TKO on Williams after knocking him down in almost every round up until they stopped it in like the 8th or 9th round

also, Vitali's been hurt everytime he's been scheduled to fight Rahman, who cannot win the big fight. He's a choke artist... all of his losses come at pivotal moments in his career. I dont think for a second that Vitali was ducking this clown. He'd have beat him just like every other great heavyweight beats him. Rahman will lose the title to Byrd, Sanders, Ruiz, or Toney. Maybe even Tua.

with Vitali gone, though, i wouldnt be surprised to see ole shitlocks Lewis come out of retirement. Lewis didnt retire due to injury, he retired...DUE TO AGE. haha, and fear and declining ability. if his body would let him, Vitali would have destroyed Rahman.


there, my rant's over. now Wladimir has a chance to dominate, as long as his chin stays together.

11/10/2005 3:07:51 PM

how important to a boxer is an acl?

doesnt seem like it should be all that crippling

11/10/2005 3:12:44 PM

Rahman is a Buster Douglas. He got lucky with a punch.

The only guy that is barely exciting to me is David Tua, although I didn't mind the Ukrainians (half Great White Hopes, half Great White Hypes).

11/10/2005 3:13:59 PM

Quote :

"how important to a boxer is an acl?"

absolutely essential. what alot of people don't realize is how boxing is just as strenous on the legs as it is the arms... probably moreso. your footwork, balance, and alot of your power comes from your legs... especially for a guy like Vitali, because before he was boxing, he was a kickboxing champion.

11/10/2005 3:33:31 PM

u go bounce around for 2 minutes in ur kitchen throwing a punch every like 5 seconds and tell me if ur legs dont get worn out before any other part of your body, just bounce around on ur toes

ACL is vital to any athelete, more so boxers

11/10/2005 5:16:24 PM

this is one site's opinion, but when someone thinks Chris Byrd is the top non-retired guy, that's pretty bad

(this list is from a few months ago)

1. Vitali Klitschko Next: RETIRED?
2. Chris Byrd
3. James Toney
4. Lamon Brewster
5. Hasim Rahman
6. Wladimir Klitschko
7. Samuel Peter Next: Dec. 15 vs. TBA
8. John Ruiz
9. Calvin Brock Next: Nov. 19 vs. David Bostice
10. Monte Barrett
11. Audley Harrison Next: Dec. 10 vs. Danny Williams
12. Nikolai Valuev
13. Andrew Golota
14. Luan Krasniqi
15. David Tua Next: Jan. 28 vs. Calvin Brock
16. Fres Oquendo
17. Shannon Briggs Next: Nov. 26 vs. Brian Scott
18. Oleg Maskaev
19. Jameel McCline
20. Kirk Johnson
21. Lance Whitaker Next: Dec. 15 vs. Sultan Ibragimov
22. Juan Carlos Gomez
23. Serguei Lyakhovich
24. Larry Donald
25. Dominick Guinn
26. Danny Williams Next: Dec. 10 vs. Audley Harrison
27. Joe Mesi Next: RETIRED?
28. Corrie Sanders
29. Sinan Samil Sam
30. Ray Austin
31. Oliver McCall
32. Evander Holyfield
33. DaVarryl Williamson
34. Owen Beck
35. Lawrence Clay-Bey
36. Tye Fields
37. Michael Moorer Next: RETIRED?
38. Michael Grant
39. Henry Akinwande
40. Anthony Thompson
41. Vassiliy Jirov
42. Cedric Boswell
43. Gerald Nobles
44. David Defiagbon
45. Jeremy Williams
46. Faruq Saleem
47. Matt Skelton Next: Dec. 10 vs. Kevin McBride
48. Kevin McBride Next: Dec. 10 vs. Matt Skelton
49. Mike Tyson Next: RETIRED?
50. Riddick Bowe Next: Dec. 2 vs. Ray Lunsford

[Edited on November 10, 2005 at 5:51 PM. Reason : .]

11/10/2005 5:46:13 PM

coming from someone who use to box, your legs get tired way before your arms. thats where you get your punching power. you also use your legs slipping punches and moving around the ring.

and the heavyweight division hasnt been exciting for some time, and this only makes matters worse.

11/10/2005 5:47:24 PM

thanks red and gunzz, i didnt realize that all those different bodies actually meant anything

11/10/2005 6:31:10 PM

fact remains rahman or not vitali owed the people at least one defense against a champ or toney. If he would have starched them Id give him more credit but his greatness was built off a loss to lewis. Ahead on the cards or not it was still a loss to an unmotivated lewis who wasnt even supposed to fight vitali until a few weeks before the fight.

11/10/2005 6:31:13 PM

haha bobby q, good handle

11/10/2005 6:34:22 PM

i've always wondered this, is it pronounced vi-TAL-i or VI-tali, cause it sounds fucking stupid the 2nd way

11/10/2005 7:16:01 PM

vuh-Tal-ee

11/10/2005 8:44:19 PM

That really seems to depend on who is calling the fight. I've heard VIT-al-ee, vuh-TAH-lee, and VEE-tal-ee from 3 different announcers in the same fight before. The second one seems to be the most common and is the way I've always said it.
As sad as it is though, until Brock, Peter, and maybe Harrison or Valuev (the last two are still pretty much unknown quantities over here in the US) step up to the next level, Toney and Brewster are probably the best two heavyweights in the game. I would say Wladimir hands down, but I'm not sure he has the chin or the heart to take over. He certaily has the skill if he has the desire. Although those guys all have to deal with Don King now so unless they are willing to sell their soul, they may never see a title shot.

11/11/2005 7:47:17 AM