Why didn't Wlad go for the WBC belt after Vitali retired

Thank you

 

You have the date of Vitali's retirement wrong. While it's true his last fight was in 2012 he didn't officially retire and relinquish the belt until the 16th Dec 2013.

Stiverne and Arreola then fought for the vacant title in May 2014. Wlad prior to this fight publicly said he wanted to fight the winner. But later in the year he did say he wasn't going to chase for the WBC title and that he was the one in the driving seat and they had to come to him.

Yes in 2015 after Wilder won the belt Wlad was tied up by the Fury mandatory. But prior to that he fought Jennings in the US. I assume that was to build an eventual unification fight with Wilder, once he had dealt with Fury but of course that is pure conjecture on my part but it's seems a likely scenario.

So I do think Wlad wanted to unify but he clearly wasn't in any rush to do so and Wilder's team seemed to also wanted to delay any possible unification. I wouldn't call this an out right duck, just things not aligning to make the fight, from the small window of opportunity to neither side chasing it and then Fury upsetting the odds against Wlad.

 

These things happen in boxing (and life) more often than we would like. Things quite often don’t line up at the right time.

 

I agree with you on this.

Also, Wilder and Povetkin agreed to fight in May 2016 before Povetkin failed his drugs test. And Klitschko got tied up with the Fury rematch around that time.

 

The window for this is very short.

Vitali retired at the end of 2013, December I think.

Stiverne and Areola were the two selected to fight for the vacant title, Stiverne won by KO in April 2015.

Wladimir started pursuing the Fury fight in April 2015.

So we have the following opportunities were a unification could have been prioritised for Wlad over a period of 12 months:

His fight against Pulev, his fight against Jennings and then the fight against Fury.

During this time the WBC title was fought once, Stiverne against Wilder.

Wladimir had this to say at the time:
“I hope that the sanctioning bodies will speak the same language and we find a solution to allow me to fight for the WBC title,” Klitschko told ESPN.com. “If not, I will go the other way. I have no influence on it. I know it’s complicated to become champion and get things like that done. There are a lot of sanctioning bodies and obligations. I just hope the sanctioning bodies will be supportive of this unification fight, whoever wins.”

Don King wasn't interested in making the fight, and instead brought forward the mandatory defence against Wilder.

Wilder didn't have opportunity to duck Wlad because Wlad faced Fury and lost.

So the person who scuppered the unification was Don King. That's why it never happened.

History shows that Wilder never once unified the titles anyway, so even if Wlad beat Fury, he likely never gets his hands on that WBC belt.

 

I come over as a big Joshua fan because I have never really got why people feel he was protected.
He was a new champion making the 3rd defence of his title against the #1 rated HW in Wladimir.
He couldn't challenge Fury as Fury chose not to defend or mKe any defences of his titles.
Joshua won the 3 vacated titles in 3 separate title fights

I can agree with the home advantage side etc but not the opposition overall

 

If beating 39 and 40 y/o Ortiz were "good, solid" wins for Wilder then surely Parker and Zhang beating 39 y/o Wilder was also "good, solid" wins. But this is where you fairy boys shine and do olympic-level mental gymnastics. In YOUR mind, somehow, Wilder's wins over 39/40 year Ortiz were good and solid, but Parker and Zhang beating 39 year Wilder were LESS.

Because you are a cheerleader. Not a boxing fan but a PBC fan. These last few years have been tough for your kin, sorry.

Get it together young man

 

Remember it being a long time since the Vitali Vs Charr fight before Vitali announced retirement. Was there an injury involved or was he seeing if could effectively juggle the his mayor position and boxing.

 

he tried to make a fight with Stivern for unification. the WBC refused to sanction a unification fight the WBC has played as a protection bracket for north American fighters. https://www.espn.com/blog/dan-rafael/post/_/id/8979/w-klitschko-wants-stivernes-belt

 

He tried before Wilder even won the belt but the WBC blocked it. you can bet your ass if it was Canelo or hell even Wilder ( look how long they allowed him to go what three years without facing his mandatory? Unification didn't happen because Haymon wanted to make sure he had a heavyweight belt for his newformed PBC and it was worth more to him and his new organization then Wilder's career. kind of like the 120 million he was offered for the Joshua fight, Wilder went on to make no where near that against fury and he even admitted as much.

 

Wait when has Wilder ever did a unification fight against anybody he was champ for what 5 years? most of that time he did not bother fighting mandatories so why could Wilder not of tried unification against anybody. instead he hid on PBC island ducking the best heavweights.

 

Exactly.

 

It’s ok pal, as I said, think you’re dense and don’t understand people age/peak different.

in your mind, Zhang might aswell retire as he’s reached the age many fighters are finished.

age is a number…Ortiz was at ortiz’ peak when he fought wilder regardless of his age number and was ranked (I think 4th by ring but someone can fact check if it matters that much to you). The relevant factor is he was acknowledged as good at this point.

wilder had just had his tough battles with fury and looks a shell of himself when he fought Zhang/parker. The relevant factor is he was acknowledged as just taking his first losses and they were big losses. The question in the fights was if he has anything left.

1) fury is 36, is he approaching his peak, at peak, or past his peak?

2) AJ is 35, is he approaching his peak, at peak, or past his peak?

3) Zhang is 41, is he approaching his peak, at peak, or past his peak?

4) fury beat wlad when he was 39, was wlad approaching his peak, at peak, or past his peak?

5) AJ beat wlad when he was 41, was wlad approaching his peak, at peak, or past his peak?

 

He didn’t, I agree. But it wasn’t long before AJ did unify, credit to him. He beat Parker and Martin to take theirs. The other belt was vacant and he won it by beating klitschko.

I can’t remember every detail, and neither can you, we are not even privy to every detail, but wilder and aj failed to fight each other (the Dazn boss admits he messed that up).
Maybe wilder should have tried harder to fight Parker and Martin, however I’m sure Aj will have offered more money anyway.

which mandatory did he not fight? That doesn’t even make sense? A mandatory defense means you get stripped of your belt if you don’t fight the person.
Do you mean that waste of time whyte? Who was banging on about being mandatory when he wasn’t? I’m sure he was ordered to fight Ortiz for a final elimination but refused, so Ortiz wilder got made.

 

he didn't say he would do it in a couple fights though the wording is important. “It's not the right thing yet. Give him a couple of fights, maybe bring something back to Alabama. Let him develop just like any other athlete. They don't take someone who is a great college prospect and throw him right in. And this kid is a great prospect.”

And Wilder was a champion with 33 professional fights if he wasn't ready then he never would be. which we all know is true as soon as he stepped up he was exposed there was a good reason he spent most of his career hiding from any heavy with a pulse.