A former world heavyweight champion is eyeing a return to the ring.
The current heavyweight landscape sees Oleksandr Usyk as the clear number one in the division, having defeated the likes of Tyson Fury, Anthony Joshua and Daniel Dubois in recent years.
Usyk’s initial win over Fury saw him become undisputed champion, and he now remains in possession of the WBC, WBA and WBO titles after relinquishing the IBF belt.
That IBF title is now held by Dubois, who recovered from his defeat to Usyk by claiming impressive stoppage wins over Jarrell Miller, Filip Hrgovic and most recently Joshua in September.
It seems that one retired great still has ambitions to resume his career and become world heavyweight champion again though, and that man is Wladimir Klitschko.
Klitschko last fought in 2017 when he was defeated by Joshua, hanging up his gloves after a stellar career that saw him reign as heavyweight king for a decade.
He has been linked with a return to boxing for the past few months, as he aims to break George Foreman’s record of being the oldest world heavyweight champion in history.
Tom Loeffler, who is the Ukrainian’s longtime promoter, told The Ring that while the 48-year-old does want to return, he believes he will only do so if it’s for a world title.
“Wladimir is such a historic figure. I don’t want to speculate for Wladimir, but my understanding is that he does want to fight for a title.
“If anyone can make a comeback [at his age], it’s Wladimir. He’s in tremendous shape every time I see him, much like he was when he went on a historic 25-title defense run.”
With a fight between Klitschko and Usyk highly unlikely due to their allegiance to Ukraine, it means ‘Dr Steelhammer’ may look to target a clash with Dubois if he does indeed choose to end his retirement.
