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Not satisfied with one go-round, Wladimir Klitschko (64-4, 53KOs) is to exercise his contractual right to climb back through the ropes with Tyson Fury (25-0, 18KOs) and attempt to claim his heavyweight titles back. Having been outboxed and outfoxed at the weekend, Klitschko has been open in admitting his dismay at the loss, and his team were very quick to publicly claim they would be going for the rematch. Of course, plenty of fighters are quick to say these things in the aftermath of fights, simply as an attempt to save face after a loss. But after a few days to reflect, Klitschko is climbing right back on the horse, announcing his intention to take the rematch on his Instagram.
There are yet to be any details on when and where the fight will take place, and having won the trinkets, I’m sure Fury will be keen to assert his dominance, so a summer fight at Wembley Stadium may seem the obvious choice.
Mick Hennessy, Fury’s promoter, has already gone as far as to suggest the fight would sell out the national stadium
“Wembley Stadium would be very appealing at the right time of year, definitely,” he said. “It was close to 55,000 in Düsseldorf. It would easily do 80,000 at Wembley. But it would have to be at the end of the football season.”
But Wladimir will surely believe he is still the A-side in this equation, so he may be reluctant to go to Britain for the fight. No doubt we’ll get some very public and drawn out negotiations in the coming weeks (or months). And of course, as this is boxing, we must add the disclaimer that there is still plenty of time for this fight to find a way of not happening!
But let’s keep the faith, until we see the evidence that we won’t get the fight.
Klitschko has been very honest in his assessment of the fight, admitting he was unable to find his range and get his right hand off, and acknowledging that Fury got the better of him on the night. He’s also been open in his grief on Twitter, with the following tweet shortly after his loss:
I still don't believe I actually lost. Man, I'm suffering.
— Klitschko (@Klitschko) November 30, 2015
But Wladimir clearly feels he is able to adjust and get the win in the rematch. Due to Fury’s swift and effective footwork, and his jittery head and hand movement, Klitschko was never able to find his range to really go on the attack, and as a result he spent much of the fight trying to establish his jab. Klitschko, an incredibly risk-averse operator, remained reluctant to throw the right hand, even when it was clear he needed the knock out, seemingly due to fear of return fire from Fury.
Can Klitschko plan for Fury’s smarts this time round? Is he ready to take more risks in order to win? Has he become a gun-shy, past-his-best fighter? It looks like we might be getting the answers to those questions in 2016!
