By Edward Chaykovsky
Heavyweight contender Wladimir Klitschko is not even thinking about the possibility of retirement, according to his manager Bernd Boente.
Klitschko will finally return to the ring next Saturday night, April 29th, when he faces Anthony Joshua before a record crowd of 90,000 at Wembley.
The 41-year-old veteran has been out of the ring since November 2015, when he suffered his first career defeat in over ten years. He appeared lackluster and unable to let his hands go, which resulted in a twelve round decision loss to Tyson Fury.
Against Joshua, Klitschko will face the rising star of the division with the IBF, IBO, WBA world titles at stake.
A win would put Klitschko back on top of the division he ruled for a decade. And a loss would send him spiraling further down in the ranks.
Boente says Klitschko has always looked up to Bernard Hopkins, who fought until he was 51-years-old. So a win over Joshua could create a scenario where Klitschko will stick around for some time.
"If you're 41 years old, you can't expect that someone is fighting another 10 years, but he always said that Bernard Hopkins is one of his idols - and you know how long Bernard fought," Boente exclusively told Sky Sports.
"I don't know if Wladimir will still fight at 50, but one thing is for sure, he's not looking at this fight as his last fight. For the last five or six years, Wladimir has never discussed how long he fights. It's fight by fight and then he makes a decision. At this moment I can tell you he's in fantastic shape and he's physically and psychologically on a top level. He's absolutely looking forward to this fight."