ESPN Boxing

Try not to laugh: Heavyweight Donovan "Razor" Ruddock is making a comeback.

The once-fearsome contender, who gave Mike Tyson two excellent fights -- in 1991! -- is returning at age 48. He hasn't been in the ring since winning the Canadian heavyweight title via 10th-round knockout of Egerton Marcus all the way back in 2001.

Supposedly, Ruddock (38-5-1, 29 KOs) is a chiseled 211 pounds after fighting most of his notable fights in the 230s and 240s. At a boxing card on Saturday in Mississauga, Ontario, Ruddock is slated to formally announce his comeback and show off his physique.

"I've never been in this shape in my life," said Ruddock, who says he's talking to various promoters about a June or July comeback or even a May 25 return on a show in Hammond, Ind.

"I always got by on my ability and trained as hard as I knew how back in the day," Ruddock said. "But now I know so much more. Not just about boxing, but myself as well."

Besides the two losses to Tyson, including a debatable stoppage in the seventh round of their first bout, Ruddock was one of the toughest heavyweights of his time. He owns wins against former titlists Michael Dokes and Greg Page and lost (in devastating fashion) to Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis via second-round knockout in 1992 and via sixth-round knockout to Tommy Morrison in 1995. After the loss to Morrison, Ruddock took three years off, then came back and won his next 10 fights. He walked away after the win against Marcus because of a shoulder injury.

"At this weight, I feel even faster, stronger and more lethal than when I had ringside doctors running all over the place," Ruddock said.

Ruddock's goal is to eventually land a fight with Neven Pajkic (16-1, 5 KOs), the reigning Canadian champion.

"First thing, I want my Canadian heavyweight title back," Ruddock said. "I really respect Neven. He's a warrior who carries the title with class and pride. But sadly for him, he's wearing the belt that I want."

Then Ruddock turned a little crazy when he added: "Then when Neven is healing up, hopefully he'll take some comfort in the fact that I'll be putting Tyson Fury, Chris Arreola, Dereck Chisora, David Haye, Bermane Stiverne, Seth Mitchell and Tomasz Adamek on the exact same pudding diet, too. And after I feast on the appetizers, I'll dive in for two helpings of Chicken Kiev."

That last reference was to world champions Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko of Ukraine.

"The older brother [Vitali] avoided me 11 years ago, and now he has to pay," Ruddock said. "And the younger one [Wladimir] just bores me. I'll have to knock him out, too."

Good luck to Ruddock in his comeback. He can dream, can't he?

There were no surprises on Saturday at the Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany, where a crowd of about 50,000 watched as heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko toyed with Jean-Marc Mormeck like a child plucking wings off of a fly.

As expected, Klitschko rolled to the uncompetitive fourth-round destruction of Mormeck, the 39-year-old former cruiserweight champion who hadn't fought in 15 months and had looked awful in his three heavyweight bouts after moving up in weight.

There was one round in which Mormeck -- seven inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter than the giant Klitschko -- landed no punches. Zero. There was another in which he landed one. It was that bad of a showing for Mormeck (36-5, 22 KOs), who was simply out of his depth.

All the while, Klitschko (57-3, 50 KOs) jabbed him, fired some left hooks and dropped bombing right hands. Mormeck was a sitting duck until Klitschko, who can be a fluid combination puncher when he wants to be, put together a sweet three-punch combo to knock Mormeck out -– a stiff left that froze him, a massive and flush right hand behind it and a window-dressing left as Mormeck was falling to the canvas.

It was easy, easy work for Klitschko, who scored his coveted 50th career knockout and continues to dominate the heavyweight division, which, admittedly, is short on talent and long on Klitschkos.

Klitschko has been champion since 2006, has made 11 defenses (nine by knockout) during his second title reign and has barely lost any rounds along the way.

Frankly, as I said on the air while calling the fight as a commentator for the American television audience on Epix, had Mormeck won, I would have considered it an even bigger heavyweight title-fight upset than when Buster Douglas knocked out Mike Tyson.

Between Klitschko and his older brother, fellow champion Vitali Klitschko, they have basically cleaned out the top 10. The one top-10 guy they haven't faced is Alexander Povetkin, who has blatantly ducked the Klitschkos.

As the brothers have laid waste to the division, it's becoming increasingly difficult to see what fight on the horizon would pose any challenge. Wladimir owes a mandatory defense to Tony Thompson, whom he has already knocked out. There's a chance a fight in America will materialize later this year against Cristobal Arreola, who was already knocked out by Vitali. Rising American prospect Seth Mitchell is still too green.

After the destruction of Mormeck, Klitschko mentioned two other possible opponents from the U.K. –- Tyson Fury and David Price -– but neither is ready yet, if they ever will be.
So what's left for Klitschko to accomplish as he continues one of history's most dominant heavyweight championship reigns?

I can think of only two things, both of which I asked Klitschko about during an interview we had a few days before the fight. He was noncommittal about both, but said, "You have pretty good ideas" before he chuckled.

Wladimir owns three of the four major sanctioning organization belts, plus the lineal championship.

Vitali has the WBC version of the title. But Vitali is 40 and, although he just retained the belt three weeks ago in a dominant win against Dereck Chisora, he doesn't plan to stick around forever. I am convinced that Wladimir wants nothing more than to win the WBC title once his brother either loses it (because they won't fight each other) or retires.

The only other meaningful accomplishment for Klitschko -- who also was a 1996 Olympic gold medalist -- would be to look longer-range and grind toward the all-time heavyweight record for title defenses.

The record is 25, held by the great Joe Louis, who was champion from 1937 to 1948 and made many of those defenses during his so-called "bum of the month" circuit.

With his 50th knockout, Klitschko moved into fifth on the all-time list for most knockouts by a heavyweight champion. He had been tied with the legendary Jack Dempsey and Louis.

Why not look at another Louis stat to match? Klitschko needs 15 more defenses to surpass Louis. It's a daunting task. Sure, it's unlikely. Impossible, some would say.

Certainly to have any chance, Klitschko would need to fight more than just once or twice a year. He's 35 and turns 36 on March 25. With his dedication, conditioning and the fact that he takes almost no punishment, he should have some good years left. There is nothing else to accomplish for him in the here and now. So why not just keep racking up defenses and look to a record in the future? Because right now, there is nobody who can touch him.

Picking on the heavyweight division these days is pretty easy. In an era when champion brothers Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko stand head and shoulders above the rest of the field, the popular refrain is that there's no competition in the weight class for them and that the division is a waste of time.

Between them, the brothers Klitschko have, in their current title reigns, combined to make 18 defenses since 2006. They have dominated every single one of the fights, without exception, and won 13 of them by knockout.

It doesn't help matters, at least on this side of the pond, that there is such a dearth of American contenders, especially when Americans used to own the division.

And because, as we all know, the Klitschkos have said since Day 1 that they will never fight each other, many have just written off the division. HBO and Showtime, the leaders in American televised boxing, have all but given up on it. Even when HBO dipped its toe back into the heavyweight business last year, making a deal with the Klitschkos to televise Wladimir's defense against David Haye and Vitali's against Tomasz Adamek, it didn't get one competitive round out of the 22 combined in the two fights. Maybe the most compelling drama in both bouts was watching Haye embarrass himself by blaming his loss on a sore toe and then whipping out the digit to show HBO analyst Larry Merchant in his postfight interview.

But you know what? A funny thing happened on the way to the heavyweight black hole: The division is actually starting to perk up. There are reasons to watch, fighters to be interested in and, lately, some pretty good bouts.

Two weeks ago, Vitali rolled to a lopsided unanimous decision against British crazy man Dereck Chisora, essentially as a one-armed fighter because he suffered a left shoulder ligament tear early in the fight. It was the first of three heavyweight title bouts in three weeks on American premium network Epix, which has picked up the slack for HBO and Showtime. But although it was a one-sided fight on the scorecards, it was an absolutely entertaining scrap (watched by more than 13 million people on German network RTL), probably Vitali's most exciting bout since his 2004 brawl with Corrie Sanders. And Chisora certainly spiced things up with his loose cannon behavior before the fight (when he slapped Vitali at the weigh-in and then spit water in Wladimir's face in the ring before the bout began) and after the fight, when Chisora instigated a brawl with Haye at the press conference. Chisora behaved like a buffoon, but for better or worse, he brought a lot of attention and excitement to the division.

It wasn't Chisora's first entertaining fight, either. His loss (a robbery!) to Robert Helenius (another young contender to keep an eye on) in December was an entertaining fight, as was his collision last summer with England's up-and-coming Tyson Fury, who also has been in some entertaining bouts.

Just last week, Alexander Povetkin defended his version of the title against Marco Huck, a cruiserweight titleholder who moved up in weight. It was a terrific fight -- one of the best in the heavyweight division in a long time -- even if the majority decision awarding the decision to Povetkin wasn't so good.

But Povetkin is a normal-sized heavyweight, not a giant like the Klitschkos, so Huck wasn't overmatched despite his moving up to heavyweight for the first time. Povetkin has been in other good fights as well.

If you can put the Klitschkos to the side for just a minute, there are good fights that can be made involving Chisora (assuming he keeps his license following his latest antics), Adamek (who returns from his loss to Vitali on March 24) and the always-entertaining Cristobal Arreola (who two weeks ago won a fight that lasted only one round but was quite exciting).

Hopefully, Huck will stick around at heavyweight, too, because a pressure fighter with a big right hand and a big heart is always welcome.

Even though it wasn't the most significant heavyweight fight, Americans Bryant Jennings and Maurice Byarm, who were pressed into action at the last minute on Jan. 21 when the original main event fell out, produced a fun heavyweight fight in the first main event of the new "Fight Night" series on NBC Sports Net.

There are other heavyweights to watch who could develop, including Seth Mitchell (America's current best hope); younger and rawer American Deontay Wilder (a 2008 Olympic medalist who is 21-0 with 21 KOs and has a massive right hand but who hasn't fought anyone with a pulse); British giant David Price (a 2008 Olympic medalist who is 12-0 with 10 KOs); Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev (15-0 with 7 KOs, who goes for the vacant European title March 31); and Ireland-based Cuban Mike Perez (18-0, 12 KOs), who has looked good in recent fights.

So even though Wladimir is expected to roll through yet another title defense, this time against former cruiserweight champion Jean-Marc Mormeck, on Saturday, just as he and his brother have made routine, it doesn't mean the heavyweight division is dead.

You just have to respect the historic dominance of the Klitschko brothers and then take a minute to look beyond them for satisfaction. If you do, you'll find that the heavyweight division isn't so bad after all.

When it comes to cruiserweight titleholders moving up to conquer the heavyweight division, many have tried. Most have failed.

In recent years, cruiserweight champions such as Tomasz Adamek, Juan Carlos Gomez and James Toney have made the attempt. Adamek and Gomez were both dominated and knocked out by Vitali Klitschko when they got their shots. Toney outpointed John Ruiz in a title bout, but the result was negated because Toney tested positive for steroids after the fight.

Other cruiserweight titleholders have fought at heavyweight but had only middling success and never even got a title opportunity, including Vassiliy Jirov, Bobby Czyz and Orlin Norris.

Only two have made the successful jump.

Evander Holyfield was the undisputed cruiserweight champion and eventually the undisputed heavyweight champion. He was the real deal at both weights. Many years later, David Haye, who won three of the four major alphabet belts and was generally considered the real cruiserweight champ, also moved up to heavyweight and claimed a belt in 2009, even though he was never the legitimate champion (and made more news with his mouth and sore toe than his actual heavyweight fighting ability).

Next up to try is Germany’s Marco Huck (34-1, 25 KOs), who I regard as the No. 1 cruiserweight in the world. He won a belt in 2009 and has made eight defenses.

Now Huck, an aggressive crowd pleaser and a good puncher, is doing what other cruiserweights have done before him -- moving up for the opportunity to win a heavyweight belt. Huck challenges Russia’s Alexander Povetkin for his title Saturday (Epix and EpixHD.com, 4 p.m. ET) in Stuttgart, Germany.

Even though Povetkin holds a second-tier tissue-paper thin WBA belt (the WBA loves to give out multiple titles in the same division to collect a few extra bucks) when we all know the legit champ is Wladimir Klitschko, it will be still be an accomplishment if Huck can topple Povetkin (23-0, 16 KOs), a 2004 Olympic gold medalist and legitimate top 5 heavyweight.

"I know this is a gigantic task,” Huck said through a translator. “It can write boxing history and following the path of superstars like Holyfield and Haye would be fantastic. It’s going to be tough though because Povetkin is a very accomplished fighter. But I will win.

“I’m ready to become heavyweight champion. I would not have taken the fight if I didn’t believe in myself. Povetkin is good, but I can beat him. We once did sparring together and he has bad memories of me.”
Huck is even boldly predicting a knockout.

“I plan to show my fans a great fight, which will end in a KO victory for me,” Huck said. “Povetkin is a great champion but I will defeat him and finally accomplish my goal of becoming word heavyweight champion.”
Povetkin will be making his second title defense. When he was presented with Huck as a possible opponent, he didn’t expect it.

“At first I was surprised about Huck’s challenge because he has never fought at heavyweight before, but I am happy to defend my title against anybody out there,” said Povetkin, also through a translator. “I am in great shape and I will win.”

I think the match has all the makings of an exciting fight. Although Huck is moving up in weight, Povetkin isn’t a giant like the Klitschko brothers, so I think it will be competitive. Promoter Kalle Sauerland agrees.

“This is what the heavyweight division needs. It will be very exciting,” he said. “Both are fast, aggressive, strong and full of confidence. And both do not always have the best defense.”

Povetkin will enter the fight with a new trainer. Gone is Teddy Atlas, who is also the ESPN2 “Friday Night Fights” analyst. Atlas was very critical in helping Povetkin navigate tough moments in his title-winning effort against Ruslan Chagaev in August, so his absence could be a factor.

Atlas’ deal with Povetkin required him to train in the United States while Atlas was in season for “FNF.” Atlas would go to Europe to train him during the show’s August-January hiatus. Povetkin didn’t honor the commitment to train in America for the Chagaev fight, so Atlas, only a few weeks before the fight, went to Russia and missed the final few “FNF” cards last season. Atlas was not happy about it and, understandably, refused to do it again.

That means Alexander Zimin -- who trained former heavyweight titlist Nikolai Valuev -- is now in charge of Povetkin’s corner.

“I have had a very good preparation with Alexander Zimin, all went very well,” Povetkin said. “I am ready for Saturday. I am here to defend my title. I will win.”

Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko has a fight right in front of him, but a possible defense against former titleholder David Haye -- who embarrassed himself in a lopsided loss to Klitschko's brother, fellow champ Wladimir Klitschko, this past summer -- is still a regular topic of conversation.

One of the reasons Klitschko's eighth title defense is scheduled against Dereck Chisora, Haye's British countryman, on Saturday (Epix and EpixHD.com, 4:30 p.m. ET) in Munich, Germany, is because negotiations for a fight with Haye bogged down due to Haye's indecision.

Even with Chisora in front of their fighter, Klitschko's team continues to try to make a deal for him to take on Haye next. Klitschko, however, said it doesn't look very promising.

"David Haye is so unpredictable and we tried to make a deal and I hope the fight comes through, but right now we are miles apart from making the contract," Klitschko said on a teleconference on Wednesday. "Right now, I don't want to talk about it. I am focused totally for the Chisora fight and I hope that after Dereck Chisora, David Haye changes his mind and I can give a chance to David Haye to fight for a world title.

"Everyone, every fighter, has a dream to fight for a world title, and I tell every time to David Haye: 'Please fight me. Please fight for the world title.' It's the most prestigious title in the world. And then, if he doesn't want to do that, it's OK. David Haye always tries to find excuses why fights do not happen. I hope David Haye one day makes a decision to fight me."

A few months after Wladimir Klitschko made Haye look like a fool after all of the challenger's trash-talking, Haye announced a retirement nobody believed would stick. Not long after, he began talking about a fight with Vitali, who would be a massive favorite over Haye in a fight that I don't have much interest in. Had Haye lost to Wladimir but at least turned in a top effort, that would be a different story. Instead, Haye took the money and ran. He flopped to the canvas time and again, and then blamed his miserable performance on a sore pinkie toe. In my view, he doesn't deserve another title shot or a big payday until he earns it.

Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KOs) said he expects Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs) to put up a better fight against him than Haye did against his brother. (Is it possible to put up a worse fight?)

"David Haye didn't want to fight. He just kept running away from my brother," Vitali said. "He didn't come in to fight. I expect a better fight from Dereck Chisora. He's actually a fighter. He wants to go in and fight and to go the distance. He tries to challenge his opponent, and I didn't see that in the last fight between David Haye against Wladimir Klitschko. And that's why they both have totally different styles. Dereck Chisora is more aggressive than David Haye."