Former WBC heavyweight champ undergoes spinal surgery

Send News


It was reported on Monday that former WBC heavyweight champ Vitali Klitschko had emergency spinal disc surgery in a Innsbruck [Austria] hospital last Saturday following a training session where he felt severe pain in his back earlier that day. Klitschko's comeback fight against Jameel McCline on 9/22, his first one since retiring in November 2005, has been canceled and his future in the sport is questionable at this point.

Klitschko though remains positive, "I am feeling very well and don't have any pain," he said. "I feel like I could get back to practice either today or tomorrow, but the doctors told me to rest." As far as a return to the ring, he stated, "Please give me a few weeks. I can't understand what has happened. This is a major low blow. I need to assess the situation with my whole team and then I will say what the next steps are and how we continue."

"He has had a lot of bad luck," said Fritz Sdunek, Klitschko coach referring to past injuries including ones that resulted in his retirement in late 2005.

The only thing now for Klitschko to heal and recover from surgery and for him and his team to remain positive.

©2007 Combat Hooligans. Duplication of the content from this website without permission by its author(s) is prohibited. Any news, reports and commentary used from this site must be accompanied by a link to www.combat-hooligans.com