In a title defense bout last Saturday in Germany' Stuttgart Dr. Ironfist Klitschko (37-2, 36 KOs) defeated Juan Carlos Gomez of Cuba (44-2, 35 KOs) in a technical knockout in the ninth round.
"Nikolai Valuev is such a flamboyant character. It would be very interesting to fight him," Klitschko said in an interview posted on the Sportbox.ru website.
Valuev (50-1, 34 KOs), dubbed the Russian Giant, lost his title bout to Ruslan White Tyson Chagaev of Uzbekistan in April of 2007, suffering his only defeat to date. They later scheduled a rematch, first for May and then for July of 2008, but the match was postponed due to Chagaev's injury, and he was declared a champion in recess.
Valuev reclaimed his WBA belt in August 2008 after defeating two-time WBA heavyweight champion John Ruiz, and then retained his title by beating four-time champion Evander Holyfield of the United States last December.
Promoters for Valuev and Chagaev are currently in talks on holding the fight in July, and Klitschko hopes that the Russian wins so that he will eventually get to face him.
"For instance, Ruslan Chagaev defended his title only twice, while Valuev did it much more. I believe that as an opponent he [Valuev] is much more interesting. Let's wait until we begin negotiations. I am sure the talks will be with World Champion Nikolai Valuev. I will keep my fists clenched for him," Klitschko said.
Thirty-year-old Chagaev (25-0, 17KOs) returned to professional boxing last month facing Carl Davis Drumond (26-1, 20 KOs) in Mecklenburg, Germany. He defeated the previously unbeaten Puerto Rican in a six round technical decision.
Klitschko, 37, hung up his gloves in November 2005 due to a knee injury, but announced his comeback last year. He regained his WBC belt in October last year in Germany when he beat Samuel Peter, dubbed the Nigerian Nightmare.
Shortly after the bout against Gomez last week, Vitaly said in an interview posted on the BoxingScene.com website that "the Klitschko brothers want to have all four of the heavyweight titles. We have three and only one is left. I want to fight Nikolai Valuev."
Vitaly's brother Wladimir Klitschko is currently the WBO and IBF heavyweight world champion.
