Wladimir Klitschko could hang up his gloves after fighting Anthony Joshua, according to his brother, Vitali.
Wladimir will face Anthony Joshua with the IBF and WBA heavyweight titles on the line on Saturday night in front of a 90,000-strong capacity crowd at Wembley Stadium.
The 41-year-old will be fighting for the 69th time in the professional ranks with the goal of winning back two of the belts he lost to Tyson Fury in 2015.
And Vitali, himself a former heavyweight boxer who retired four years ago, believes his brother knows his own time to quit is coming.
“Wladimir right now is focusing on the fight,” Vitali told Sky Sports.
“He knows from this fight a lot depends on his future and his career
“It’s the time to think about stopping and not fighting anymore, or continue his career.”
Joshua is unbeaten in his 18 fights so far but Wladimir represents comfortably the biggest test of his career.
The former unified world champion has just four defeats on his record and says he is “obsessed” with gaining one more victory.
And Vitali says he has already had a number of conversations about how to inflict Joshua’s first ever professional defeat.
“Wladimir knows he has to dominate. Not to wait, to come in and show his performance,” Vitali added.
“No other way. He knows that, I talked to him, many times. He knows that already well.
“Everything, his future depends on him, and that’s why if Joshua loses the fight, he has a lot of space, because of his age.
“He has a next time to fight, to try to be the world champion.
“Wladimir doesn’t have a second chance.
“That’s why we expect full concentration from him and, of course, a good result.”
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