The return of Vitali Klitschko continues this weekend when he defends his WBC heavyweight title against Juan Carlos Gomez. Klitschko won the title when he returned from nearly four years away from the sport to dominate Sam Peter in October, claiming back the belt that he left with.

Klitschko could not have been more impressive in his win over Peter, making the Nigerian quit after eight one-sided rounds. It was better than anyone expected, and once again Klitschko made it look easy. Should we expect anything else from Gomez?

Based on Vitali’s career, there’s no reason to think things are about to change. So just how good is Vitali Klitschko?

At 36-2, Klitschko has only heard the scorecards read once in his professional career, knocking out all other opponents in his wins, with his only two losses coming by injury and cuts. In both of his losses, he was winning on all scorecards at the time of the stoppage. Lennox Lewis is the only fighter that ever looked like he belonged in the ring with Vitali.

Gomez, however, is no slouch. While Vitali has dominated virtually everyone he’s faced, his resume is not exactly a who’s who of heavyweight boxing. Gomez is a solid opponent that has sparred with Klitschko in the past, and poses a possible matchup dilemma.

While he’s four inches shorter than Klitschko, Gomez matches the Ukrainian in reach — and he’s a lefty. A southpaw that will be able to reach Klitschko could be just the kind of matchup that takes him off his game.

Gomez suffered his only defeat four and a half years ago, racking up 44 wins around it since going pro in 1995. Until 2001, Gomez was fighting as a cruiserweight, and was an impressive 34-0 with 29 knockouts before moving up. Now, he faces the toughest test of his career in Klitschko, and probably has to be damn near perfect to pull the upset.

Klitschko, on the other hand, probably just needs to not be injured to win the fight. That’s been the case in all of his other fights. He is a tremendously underrated boxer with devastating power, and a solid chin. In today’s world of heavyweights, about the only one with the package to defeat him is his brother, Wladimir, but that’s not going to happen.

I think Gomez will pose a slight threat for the first two rounds — and by threat I mean he won’t get dominated and could win a few rounds. I don’t see Gomez hurting Klitschko, so he will have to box very well and be very cautious to win a decision. He should give Klitschko some trouble in the early rounds, but once Vitali adjusts, he should take over and promptly put an end to the fight. If Gomez can get knocked out in the first round by Yanqui Diaz, then he may not take a right hand from a Klitschko that well.

Another dominant performance from Vitali and I won’t be surprised to see many boxing folks start putting him on top of the heavyweight rankings. His fights with Corrie Sanders and Peter showed that he is in fact the better fighter, so it is just a matter of giving him the nod over the brother with the better resume and more belts. But that’s a debate to be had after this fight.

An interesting side note in this fight is that it is the first heavyweight title fight ever to be shown live on ESPN. Kudos to the Worldwide Leader for picking up the fight, and even more kudos to them for having the sack to air it on The Uno — up against the March Madness. A solid performance from these two men is extremely important, as there may never be another stage so big for them again if it isn’t a great show.

I think we’ll get an entertaining fight, competitive for two or three rounds, then increasingly one-sided as Klitschko finds his distance, rhythm and timing. Once that happens, it’s just a matter of time before Gomez is on the canvas.

Prediction: Klitschko KO 5.