Klitschko fancied one more crack at gold (Picture; Sascha Steinbach/Bongarts/Getty Images)
Boxing legend Wladimir Klitschko held talks to come out of retirement to fight heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois – negotiations which have now been scrapped.
Klitschko hung up his gloves in 2017, three months after his iconic showdown with Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium where he was knocked out in the 11th round by the Briton.
The Ukrainian held multiple world titles alongside his brother Vitali between 2000 and 2015 and is regarded as one of boxing’s all-time greats, still holding the record for the heavyweight division’s longest reigning champion at 4,382 days.
‘Dr Steel Hammer’ had been seriously contemplating a return and showed interest in coming back to fight IBF champion Dubois in Saudi Arabia in February.
But according to the Daily Mail, talks to stage that fight have ended with promoters keen to avoid the sort of derision that followed Jake Paul’s win over Mike Tyson this month.
Tyson returned to the ring at 58 – 31 years older than Paul – after 19 years of retirement and was soundly beaten by the younger man across eight insipid rounds.
While Klitschko is a decade younger than ‘Iron Mike’ and remains in top condition after eight years out of the sport, promoters behind February’s fight in Saudi have opted not to risk staging anything that even closely risks repeating this month’s fight in Texas, the report claims.
Klitschko retired after defeat to Joshua in 2017 (Picture: Getty)
The IBF would also likely have serious reservations over sanctioning the fight as a voluntary title defence.
Klitschko has previously teased the possibility of returning to boxing in order to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history. That record currently belongs to George Foreman, who returned to the ring to beat Michael Moorer and become world champion aged 46 in 1994, 20 years on from his first title reign.
Dubois defended his IBF title in September, knocking Anthony Joshua out in stunning fashion at Wembley.
Dubois will still defend his title in February (Picture: Getty)
The two were set to meet in a rematch in February but those plans were shelved with nagging injuries delaying Joshua’s plans to return to the ring.
Dubois will still defend his title in Saudi in February on a huge card that could also include the undisputed light-heavyweight title rematch between Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev.
Joseph Parker is firmly in the running to fight Dubois following a superb run of victories that included wins over Deontay Wilder and Zhilei Zhang.