Saturday 8 september 2012 will take place Vitaly Klitschko’s last professional fight; after a career started with the professional debut in the 1996, after 44 match, with 40 of them finished before the last round, and with the only two losses due to physical injuries, (the knee and the cut above an eye), having never been knoccked down, this Saturday the career of one of the strongest boxers ever will come to an end.

And here is the key problem of the Saturday’s match: Vitaly is actually 41 years old, an age in which usually all of the top fighters are already retired from years: usually a world heawyweights champion doesn’t last beyond the 36-37 years to retire, and they do it after having been knocked down by fighters that in their prime wouldn’t have lasted 8 rounds; Vitaly has lost a lot of the fastness of his first years, he is still powerful, but at the price of exhausting trainings that undermines the physique, and he actually throws less punches and keep less bhreats.
Also his chin is probably no more the one he got at 25, so I think he should have picked up a less risky opponent than the one he will face saturday, the undefeated 27 y.o. Manuel Charr , a German that seems to will only to beat the legend and grab away his WBC belt.
That Charr is actually undefeated, of course he is young and he still doesn’t have faced really dangerous boxers, but still he has beaten 21 opponents, he is 192 cm high and weights around 110 kg, but more than all, this is the fight of his life, if he beat Vitaly in the only way possible, via a k.o and not to points, he will be the first one to do it, and he will stop an years-long winning strike; all the spotlights will be pointed to him, just to have beaten the legendary fighter that dominated the hewyweight division for years with his oversized body (2 metres high, 2.03 m the reach, 110 kg of muscles when fitted for a match), but also with his mental attitude, his willing to win and to be the strongest ever, his calmness and control, his self control and confidence and his politeness to all of his opponents. (and also for his terribad enghlish grammar and pronounciation skills :) )
I don’t know what to predict for this fight, I think that the old doctor ironfist should have choosed a tomatoes can, an easier opponents for his last fight….
That Charr seems promising, and really determined to the victory…
so saturday I think there could be only two scenarios: Dr. Ironfist dominating the event from the first rounds, or, Charr and the Klitschko cautiously and hardly fighting for various rounds, until the Old goes down in the later rounds, from the 10 lets say.
I see it hard, anyway, but that Charr could be just a mediocre fighter; for sure a match to watch, just for the history and the values that Vitaly has in.