Since ending a nearly four-year retirement in 2008, Vitali Klitschko has been doing the same thing as his younger brother and fellow heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko — cleaning out the division in dominant fashion.
Vitali ended his injury-induced retirement by crushing Samuel Peter to take back his old title, forcing Peter to quit after the eighth round. In his four fights since ending the retirement, Klitschko has faced quality opponents and scarcely lost a round.
He drilled Juan Carlos Gomez in the ninth round, overpowered Cris Arreola until his corner threw in the towel after 10 rounds and then won a shutout decision against Kevin Johnson in December.
With virtually no major name available — the brothers have vowed never to fight each other — Klitschko (39-2, 37) will make his fourth defense Saturday (Integrated Sports PPV, 3 p.m. ET, $24.95) at Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, where a crowd of more than 60,000 is expected for his fight with Albert Sosnowski (45-2-1, 27 KOs).
Sosnowski, a native of Poland based in England, is a virtual unknown who four fights ago lost a shutout eight-round decision to journeyman Zuri Lawrence. But Sosnowski is getting the opportunity of a lifetime because the division is bereft of top contenders the Klitschko brothers haven’t already destroyed.
The brothers, of course, would like to face titleholder David Haye in what would surely be the biggest fight the division has to offer. However, Haye has continually talked up fights against them only to go in another direction. Another possibility is Tomasz Adamek, the former cruiserweight champ making a splash at heavyweight. read more
