By Mark Workman

Shocking the boxing world, WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has announced his retirement from the sport.

After withdrawing from his November 12 WBC title fight against Hasim Rahman due to a reported knee injury, Klitschko has now announced his retirement from boxing, sending his WBC title into the hands of Hasim Rahman and Don King, giving King complete control of all four pieces of the fragmented heavyweight crown once again.

3 months ago in my article, Don King vs. Vitali Klitschko: The Real Superfight, I spoke of Don King’s battle to once again control the heavyweight division should Vitali Klitschko lose to Hasim Rahman or eventually be stripped of his title for not fighting Rahman. This ending has now come to pass but through a slightly different turn of events. But the result is yet the same: Don King will now controls the heavyweight crown again.

It has not yet been officially announced by the WBC, but Klitschko’s title will undoubtedly end up in Rahman’s hands. Don King has been aggressively lobbying with the WBC to strip Klitschko of his title since Vitali pulled out of the fight this past Saturday. Rahman is already jubilantly celebrating his “victory.”

It was reported by the Klitschko camp that Vitali had hurt his knee while sparring, but rumors have run wild that he was knocked down and out by one of his sparring partners and did not look good in the final days leading up to the doomed November 12 fight. Klitschko’s retirement sends him out on top, although soaked in criticism.

I have no intention of wasting any time disparaging ex-champion Vitali Klitschko for retiring. The man made a decision that he felt was best for him and I have no choice but to respect that decision and wish him well in his future. But it would be nice for the whole truth to this entire affair to come from him and not those out to defame him.

Don King has said over the past few days that he intends to have his four champions fight in an upcoming tournament to give boxing fans an undisputed heavyweight champion once again. While this is something that boxing fans have been wanting and the sport desperately needs, I still have no choice but to wonder what lurks in the darkness now that King will control the division once again.

I wonder if Don King is going to do everything in his powers to freeze Wladimir Klitschko out of this future heavyweight tournament picture. But since Wladimir is the number one mandatory contender to Chris Byrd’s IBF title and Lamon Brewster’s WBO title that bit of treachery may not be as easy for King as it sounds.

I’ve said in the past that I believe Wladimir will first opt to go after Byrd’s IBF title since he’s already beaten Byrd in October of 2000, knocking him down twice in that fight and winning a lopsided unanimous decision. Five years later, I don’t see how Byrd can do much better. I think this is the easiest fight for Wladimir.

WBO titlist Lamon Brewster won his belt in a fight for the vacant title by stopping Wladimir in the fifth round of their fight in April of 2004. Even though Klitschko was winning the bout on the judge’s scorecards, he ran out of gas in the final hour, and the exciting Brewster stopped him after coming off the canvas in the fourth round. It remains to be seen what option Wladimir plans to exercise, but I’m thinking he’s going to first go after Byrd’s IBF title and avoid Brewster for now.

Lamon Brewster was upset to hear that Vitali Klitschko’s fight against Rahman met its maker, as he very much wanted a shot at the WBC title. It wouldn’t surprise me to see Rahman and Brewster in the ring together in the not so distant future. At this point in time, I’d have to pick Brewster as the winner of that potential fight.

Should John Ruiz be able to effectively use his visually-taxing punch and hold style to get beyond his December 17 travesty of a title fight against Russian “Beast from the East” Nicolay Valuev, we can only guess what Don King has planned for him. Ruiz has clearly been doing his bit to help King bash Vitali Klitschko in the press this past week, so I’m sure there’s a little Don King gratitude owed to him there.

I’m still going to hold firm to my recent words where I said I believe that out of the four current champions Lamon Brewster is the most likely candidate to unify the title, even more so now that Vitali has retired. I think there’s a big chance that as we watch all of this play out over the next year, we’ll end up seeing unification rematch between Lamon Brewster and Wladimir Klitschko, should Wladimir be able to do what brother Vitali couldn’t do and stay in the fight against Don King.

Even though I’d now put my money on the exciting go-for-broke Brewster, I’m wondering about the outcome of a rematch between him and Wladimir Klitschko. Wladimir’s confidence level is certainly back up after recently getting up off the canvass three times and winning a unanimous decision against Sam Peter, a fighter I believe to be the future undisputed heavyweight champion.

At the age of 29, Wladimir certainly has a long way to go in the heavyweight division should he decide to keep fighting and truly possesses the desire to do so. I don’t think he’s one to be counted out at this point in time. He’s the more talented of the Klitschko brothers and has certainly proven that he has heart in his fight against Sam Peter.

But there is the question of the complete solidity of his chin and one has no choice but to wonder how that Sam Peter fight would’ve ended had Peter been a year more experienced. Either way, Wladimir is back and certainly a force to be reckoned with in the heavyweight division and quite possibly could end up being the Klitschko brother to truly make a lasting and substantial mark in heavyweight boxing.

Looking down this long line of possibilities in the near future, I can see the “Nigerian Nightmare” Sam Peter fighting the eventual undisputed champ that will hopefully result from this supposed coming tournament. But Peter must get beyond his December 15 bout with light-handed Robert Hawkins and continue to fight often in this next year to gain the experience he needs and must have. Peter’s got great promise but has a lot more to learn. But he holds thunder in his fists and that is his biggest and most valuable asset right now.

So many possibilities await heavyweight boxing fans in the near future. I’m going to try and put the negative sentiments aside and try and find the positive hope in the retirement of Vitali Klitschko and Don King now controlling the heavyweight division again. It remains to be seen where Bob Arum will now stand in this big picture, if anywhere at all.

I don’t want to constantly dwell on the potential negatives of Don King’s role in this heavyweight picture, as it’s nothing but a waste of time and breeds more negativity. No matter what we all think of Don King, he’s still one of the best, if not the best, boxing promoter in the world.

And if we’re all sitting around waiting for King to retire and the world of boxing to suddenly change, we’d better remember that when that retirement day finally does come, son Carl King will surely inherit the farm and daddy has most assuredly trained him well. Don King has certainly proved again that he’s more relentless than “Relentless” Lamon Brewster could ever hope to be.

As the end of 2005 soon comes to an end and we embark upon on a new year, I’d like to think that we’ll soon have an undisputed heavyweight champion who will not only defend that crown often but against boxing’s very best, breathing new life into the sport as a whole.

To the future of the heavyweight crown I raise a hopeful, but cautious glass.

For comments about this article, you can email Mark Workman at mark@markworkman.com .