British promoter Eddie Hearn believe Wladimir Klitschko should be ranked among the top five boxers in the world if the Ukrainian heavyweight decides to return to the ring.
The 43-year-old has reportedly been offered a three-fight £60 million deal from sports streaming service DAZN.
Klitschko’s former promoter Tom Loeffler recently said he would be keen to see the former unified heavyweight champion matched with reigning WBC heavyweight boss Deontay Wilder should he decide to end his two-year retirement.
Meanwhile Hearn has said he is not expecting an announcement from Klitschko anytime soon but admits the temptation to pick up the gloves again would be very hard to resist considering the high-profile names currently competing at heavyweight.
“No, I think Klitschko’s had a couple of exploratory chats with people,” Hearn told Fight Hub TV. “Again, I don’t think there’s much movement or nothing is imminent. But that’s the business of Wladimir Klitschko.
“I think it’s always going to be tempting for a heavyweight of the past to return when he sees how big and active the division is right now.
“One of Klitschko’s problems is for all those years [is] he never really had the dance partners.
“Now they are out there and I’m sure he’s tempted every day to return, whether he does or not time will tell.”
Despite the long layoff, Hearn believes Klitschko should be rated among the upper echelons of boxing’s premier division.
“Yeah, top five for sure. But he hasn’t boxed in nearly three years, so we’ll see,” Hearn said.
Klitschko, who dominated the heavyweight landscape for over a decade, retired after his TKO11 loss to unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in at London’s Wembley Stadium in April 2017.
