Wladimir Klitschko, At 48, On The Verge Of A Comeback? WTF?

Wladimir Klitschko making a comeback? Going right at a world title? At 48 years of age, after what will be 8 years of inactivity?

On the grand scale of bad boxing ideas, this one might rate right up there, somewhere between dragging a mentally unstable Oliver McCall out of rehab to fight Lennox Lewis in 1997 and handing the sport over to the whims of a murderous Saudi Arabian monarchy.

On Monday, at the WBC convention in Hamburg, Germany, Saudi sportswashing figurehead Turki Alalshikh was given “Man of the Year” honors, joining a list of past winners that included names such as Nelson Mandela and Pope Francis.

Alalshikh devoted a part of his acceptance speech to addressing former three-belt heavyweight champ Wladimir Klitschko, who was in attendance, directly.

“I see Klitschko is here from [his] great country, and I want to ask him a favour,” Alalshikh said. “We want to see you one more time in the ring trying to get the chance to have the world championship belt again.

“Let’s see the result of Tyson and Usyk, let’s see the result of Dubois [and Parker]. And I ask the WBC, IBF, WBA and WBO to give you a chance to get this dream. We can support this.”

This has reportedly not been the first time the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority expressed his desire to see the younger Klitschko brother return to the ring. It was, however, the first time he said so publicly as, apparently, the sellout-elected king of boxing.

The retired former champion has also reportedly expressed his desire on several occasions to come back and make a bid to become the oldest world titlist in boxing history. The talk got to the point where, according to promoter Frank Warren, he was briefly considered as an opponent for IBF champ Daniel Dubois.

Klitschko last fought in April of 2017, when he was stopped in eleven rounds by Anthony Joshua in his most spirited effort in ages. Seventeen months prior, he lost his IBF, WBA, and WBO titles on the scorecards to Tyson Fury in a dull affair many thought would be the last fight of his career. All in all, the Ukraine native sports a 64-5 record with 53 KOs. He is 25-4 in world title fights.

In recent years, Klitschko and his brother Vitali, who is the mayor of Kyiv, have assumed positions of political influence, serving as spokesmen for the Ukraine during that nation’s ongoing battle against invading Russian forces.

But could such a thing as a Wladimir Klitschko comeback happen?

Well, anything is possible when obscene amounts of money are involved. Stranger things have happened. We are, after all, just about a month removed from a big ticket battle between a 58-year-old Mike Tyson and a 27-year-old influencer/content creator/novice boxer.

Former Klitschko Tom Loeffler isn’t exactly ruling the idea out.

“I’ll let Wladimir speak for himself on that,” Loeffler said in a recent SiriusXM interview with Randy Gordon and Gerry Cooney.

“Wladimir has said in the past that he would love to break George Foreman’s record for being the oldest heavyweight champion,” Loeffler added. “Naturally he won’t fight Usyk as his fellow countryman [from Ukraine], but Daniel Dubois is out there now as the IBF titleholder. Just depending on how everything goes on December 21, I definitely wouldn’t rule it out. Every time you look at Wladimir, he’s in tremendous shape. So if anyone can do it at 48 years old, he can do it. I’ll let him make any official announcements that he wants to make.”

Time will tell if the trigger is pulled on this Klitschko comeback. One thing is for certain, though. With the money and influence involved, nobody will stand in its way.