Johnathon Banks: ‘Wladimir Klitschko is NOT coming back’

By Trevor McIntyre

Boxingnews24.com

Former heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko won’t be making a comeback, according to his old trainer Johnathon Banks, who said he spoke to him and he doesn’t believe he’s serious about returning to the ring. Banks says he thinks that the 42-year-old Wladimir is just “playing on the emotions of the public” with his talk of possibly returning to the ring.

Banks took over as Klitschko’s trainer after his former trainer Emanuel Steward passed away in October 2012. Banks trained Wladimir for his last eight fights of his career. His record in those fights is 6-2. Klitschko (64-5, 53 KOs) lost his last two fights against British heavyweight Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.

”I can tell you this. Wladimir Klitschko didn’t anticipate retirement. He made a decision and retired,” Banks said to IFL TV. ”He didn’t contemplate things. He’s either going to do it or he’s not, and as far as coming back, he’s not. From my conversations with him personally, he’s not. I honestly think he’s playing on the emotions of the public. I honestly believe that, but can he? Yes. But will he? From my belief and my conversations, no, Banks said.

It’s been two years since Wladimir last fought against Anthony Joshua in a losing effort in April 2017. Although Wladimir is rumored to have been offered a $100+ million deal with DAZN for three fights, he’s not come out of retirement. If Wladimir were to resume his career, he would likely wind up facing rematches with Joshua and Fury, as well as fighting WBC champion Deontay Wilder. On the face of it, Wladimir would be able to make a lot of money and add to his legacy by beating those guys. The chances are high that Wladimir would lose all three of those matches by knockout, and wind up going back into retirement with three consecutive defeats if he didn’t retire immediately after the first loss of his deal with DAZN. Unless Wladimir’s first fight of his comeback was the biggest money fight available of the three, he might not be around to the bigger match at the tailend of the deal.

Banks was hired by former IBF/WBA/WBO middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to take over as his new trainer in place of Abel Sanchez, who he cut ties with recently. Banks believes he can improve the 37-year-old Golovkin (38-1-1, 34 KOs). There are a lot of skeptics out there among boxing fans that think that Banks will fail at returning Golovkin to the form that he had before his two fights with Saul Canelo Alvarez. Golovkin lost to Canelo last September by a 12 round decision, and he didn’t look good in that fight. One of the reasons for that is GGG didn’t let his hands go in the way that he needed to in the first six rounds of the fight.

When Golovkin finally did start attacking Canelo in a relentless manner that he needed to in the second half of the bout, he was already well behind on the scorecards. Going into the 12th round, Triple G needed to win that round to get a draw, but Canelo came on strong and outworked him to seal the victory. Banks wants to increase Golovkin’s punch output, because he sees that as immediate area that he can improve him. If Gennady had thrown more punches in rounds 1 through 6 and in round 12 in his recent rematch with Alvarez, he would have likely beaten him. It’s going to be interesting to see if Golovkin can follow the instructions that Banks gives him by evolving into a more high volume puncher instead of a guy that loads up on single shots. If Golovkin can increase his punch output by 30 to 40%, he’s going to be hard for Canelo to deal with in their trilogy fight.

”This was a situation where I was in the right position to accept, and I accepted,” Banks said about him being asked by former middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin to take over as his new trainer. ”I would tell them to wait and see for themselves, but I believe in myself whether others do or not,” Banks said about there being some boxing fans that doubt that he can improve Golovkin. ”I believe I see the talent I see in him. I believe I can pull it out of him. Once I’m able to do that, I think the assessment of him will be seen differently by people. I think he has a rhythm that he doesn’t show. That’s one thing I can bring out. As long as he’s comfortable, that’s all that’s important…It was a shock to me. I was a fan of Abel,” Banks said about Golovkin terminating his trainer Abel Sanchez. ”I looked up to him. He’s one of the Godfather’s of boxing.”

From his many years of being trained by Emanuel Steward, Banks has the knowledge to improve Golovkin. Whether GGG will follow the instructions that are given to him by Banks is something we’re going to see. Banks wanted Wladimir to attack Fury and Joshua more in those fights, but he chose not to do it, and ended up losing. Banks if an excellent trainer if he’s being listened to, and if his fighters are following his instructions. If GGG is going to do what he wants to do inside the ring, and just ignore what Bank is telling him in his corner, then it’ll be a waste of both of their time. It’s going to be hard for Banks to make changes to Golovkin though, because he’s fighting the same way his entire amateur and pro career. Sanchez did a lot of talking about the ‘Mexican style’ that he taught him, but if you look closely as GGG’s fights as an amateur, he fighting the same way.

With Sanchez as his trainer, Golovkin never did evolve into an inside brawler in the mold of Mexican boxing great Julio Cesar Chavez. Golovkin continued to fight the way he always had as amateur in Kazakhstan. What Banks needs to do is to try and get Golovkin to follow his instructions each round, because he’s not going to beat Canelo by throwing so few punches each round and/or by jabbing him from the outside the way he did in his first fight. For Golovkin to beat Canelo, he’s going to have to outwork him with power shots the entire fight, and not give away the first six rounds including the 12th.