Sorry Chef but Vitali did not make a mandatory fight for more than a year. He should have vacated the title much earlier. This guy is fighting for democtraty but in sport he see his own person, nothing than his own person. The WBC should have stripped him off long before. Other boxers could have been WBC Champpion in this year. The behavior from Vitali ruined the career from this guys. They also want to get money with the sport. Stiverne and Arreola, Wilder they should have the chance to become Champion much earlier. The WBC Titel belongs not to a person. You have to follow the rules! And Vitali did not follow with the rules. A man who is fighting for democtracy? This is very strange in my eyes.
what you say is true. he is hardly the least active champion out there though. Guillermo jones, and beibut shumenov instantly spring to mind.
This issue is this. Vitali spent 16 odd months as WBC Champion inactive. During that time he did not seek to make a fight himself with which to defend his title and he put off accepting his mandatory defence against Stiverne before pulling out injured and getting it postponed indefinitely. All the while he has invested himself more and more heavilly in politics in Ukraine. He has not been fulfilling his obligations as WBC Champion. Vitali should have been stripped of the title months ago. Or he should have been a good sportsman and relinquished it the second he decided to run for a political office in Ukraine to allow men who were actually committed to the sport to contest it. Instead he clung onto the title for as long as he could and has only given it up after the WBC offered to make him Emeritus Champion again, and in the process has royally screwed over Bermaine Stiverne by not giving the opportunity he earnt, and the opporunity Vitali himself had against Lewis - that of fighting a reigning WBC Champion widely recognized as one of the sports greats to prove his worth - and robbed him of the title that would have been his nine months ago if Vitali had retired when he should have after the Charr fight - since Vitali been effectively retired since then anyway. In the last 16 odd month Vitali's boxing career has been on hold while he focused his efforts on his political career, but in doing this he has put several other men's careers on hold, and he has put the WBC title in statis. That has been incredibly selfish of him, incredibly self-centered, and the WBC have rewarded him for it by bending over backward to accomidate him and by granting him the Emeritus Champion status so that he can come back whenever he feel like it and jump above everyone else to get a shot at the title regardless of how hard the other fighters would have had to work to get a shot in the first place.
lewis at nearly 50 years old could probably beat anyone he faced if he came back? are you fuc.king serious? what planet do you currently reside on?
Lennox Lewis did the exact same before he announced his retirement, I hardly see enough complaints about what he did. Vitali had to keep his boxing career on hold due to the political confusion and disasters going on in his home country. Lewis on the other hand, was vacationing. Vitali should be easily excused for those that do understand the disasters taking place in his country which he's trying to solve. He's pretty much looking to save the lives of his own people, can you even fathom what kind of seriously tough task he's facing?. There's a reason the WBC pardoned him for so long because they do know what he's getting into and wanted their title to proudly represent him in his crusade.
Um no he did not. Lennox's last fight was June 2003 against Vitali, he waited 6 months, and when Vitali destroyed Kirk Johnson in December he then announced his retirement. Lennox didn't stall any mandatory for over a year, then lobby the WBC to give him any special treatment. He didn't like his chances in a Vitali rematch, and GAVE UP the belt. Vitali should have done the same and vacated.
Lewis announced his retirement shortly after the WBC gave him a signal to rematch his mandatory(Vitali) or get stripped off his title in March 2004. Lewis announced his retirement in February 2004. So yes he did stall his mandatory and did hold the title for 8 months. Vitali wasn't inactive vacationing which is why the WBC themselves pardoned him for as long as they did knowing the hell being raised in his country which he's working to solve.
Lewis spent around 8 months inactive and for only 2/3 of them did he have a mandatory. When he attempted to delay accepting the mandatory the WBC told him to take the fight or be stripped and he retired. Vitali spent around 16 months inactive and had a mandatory for around 9 of them, and three times he asked the WBC to put back the deadline for accepting the purse bid and they did so, then he pulled out injured and the WBC postponed the mandatory fight indefinitely. Lewis should certainly be criticised for holding the title hostage but, whatever you look at it, the situation with Vitali was much worse than it was with Lewis. Being heavilly involved in politics is not an excuse to cling onto a title, it is a more reason to give it up. If the political situation in Ukraine is that bad, and Vitali was that deeply invested in it that he could not find the time to take a single fight in 16 odd months, then he clearly couldn't fulfill his obligations as WBC Champion even if he wanted to and shouldnt' have been WBC Champion. He should have done the decent thing and relinquished the title so he could focus fully on the political situation and not put the boxing world on hold or else the WBC should have stripped him for his failure to defend it. If Vitali is fighting for democracy and doing good in the political theater then more power to him, but that does not excuse him clinging onto that title and screwing over Stiverne and several others, and it does not excuse the WBC not acting in the best interest of its title, the men in line to fight for that title and the sport in general.