Latest news
Vitali Klitschko will make his 10th title defence, to be broadcast live on SuperSport on Saturday
Vitali Klitschko hasn’t lost a fight in nine years. Despite his age (40), he hasn’t come close to doing so either, having rampaged through the heavyweight division with younger brother Wladimir.
On Saturday in Germany the big man will step into the ring for the 10th defence of his WBC title against Dereck Chisora, a Zimbabwe-born Briton who fancies his chances of an upset.
The tournament will be broadcast live from Munich on SuperSport 2 from 9.50pm.
“The Klitschko team don’t like me because I’m wild and unpredictable and I’m not like any of the other challengers that bow down in front of them,” said Chisora, 28, at a media conference this week. “It scares them because they no control over me. The way I’m going to fight he won’t be able to keep up with the pace I’m going to set. It will be at a hundred miles an hour and his old legs won’t be able to keep up.
“I’m not scared of him, he’s human, he bleeds and so do I. I’m looking forward to this now, it’s so close. It’s the end for Vitali, I promise you, I will end the Klitschko reign and cause a massive upset in my magic round eight that will be felt around the world.”
Fight fans will be hoping that Chisora fights as well as he talks. The prospects aren’t promising, however. He’s a 17-fight rookie with two defeats in his past three fights, while Klitschko (Dr Iron Fist) has been a professional for 16 years and has engaged in 45 bouts.
He’s bigger, taller and harder hitting, although the one factor Chisora is counting on is his youth. At 40, Klitschko no longer fights with the vigour he did five years ago and you have to wonder about his motivation after he and Vitali’s cleaning out of the division.
The champion claims not to be looking beyond this weekend’s title defence.
“I’m looking into Chisora’s eyes and I see a young fighter who wants to win the world title,” said Klitschko. “When he said that he was going to finish me in round eight I realised that this guy is serious. I have never prepared as hard for a fight. But I’ve told him that he’s not the one to stop me, no one can. I’m going to show everyone why I’m the champion and why I’ve ruled for so long.”
February 16, 2012 at 9:56 am, Dilo said:
Well done to Supersport for giving the fans what they want. live boxing. I tried, but i cannot see how Chisora could win. I see him geting beat, but i hope he makes a fight of it, not like Klitchkos previous opponents, who talked the talk, but once they got in the ring and felt the power, steped back and lost on points. Chisora needs to have a warrior attitude and if he can, fight like a Tyson of those days, no fear. Easy to say, but very hard to do. He would need to take a few to give his own, and many have failed. I am just hoping we dont see another dominating fight from one side. cheers
February 16, 2012 at 11:58 am, pierre said:
I agree Dilo. I hope to see Dell Boy fight out of a crouch and work the body for the first few rounds, and maybe slowing the older man down by the late-middle rounds. But it probably won’t happen.
February 16, 2012 at 12:59 pm, Dilo said:
Yeh Pierre, that would be the right way, if he could. I think that Chisora, after about 1 minute, is going to realise that he has bitten of way more than he can chew and decide to take a tumble or try to not get hit, rather than try to win. It will be his big payday, and if he is smart, could set him up for a long time. But i hope that he stays positive till the end and goes for it, as in this division, 1 punch can change the fight and make him a champion, but to hit up to Klitchkos head with power is not an easy thing when he has such a huge height advantage. Like you said, if 9and its a BIG if) he can get close and pound the body for 6 rounds, the head might fall, but i am not sure how he even got this title shot. My prediction is KO Klitchko inside 6. Give the fans som moneys worth and hope it doesnt end in round 1. cheers
February 16, 2012 at 1:01 pm, Cyborg said:
The blueprint (or at least one of the blueprint’s, I’m not a self-appointed expert) for a smaller fighter to beat the Klitchko’s is to have good lateral and head movement, explosive inside-fighting ability and to stay in close with your head right in their chest. I don’t see any current heavyweights being able to do this. Despite what everybody else says, I really enjoyed the Klitchko-Haye fight as even though Klitchko won by a wide margin, Haye had the power to change it all in a second and had the speed to get away from being caught himself.
February 16, 2012 at 5:19 pm, Basement Boy said:
Glad Supersport has been making an effort to bring us these heavyweight fights, unlike america in recent times. The Klitschko dominance of the heavyweight division is something to be admired and not protested as most boxing pundits do these days.
I imagine Chisora will taste the Klitschko jab, and run all night, making for another boring fight, and like all the previous fights, its is not the Klitschko’s that make boring fights its their lesser opponents that do.
Unfortunately for us the fan, the Klitschko’s are simply so good that there is only lesser opponents available for them to fight.
Lets hope Chisora brings it like Adamek did and retains his dignity but going down fighting.
February 17, 2012 at 9:47 am, Dilo said:
> Well said. I concure. The Klitchkos are just to good. Som os our boxing “pundits” always want to say they boring etc, but the fact is, they too good.. Once opponents feel there power, they loose all hope.. Then they say, Lennox Lewis was exciting because he beat Vitali, but if they watch that fight, they would see that Klitchko was hurting Lewis badly by the time the fight was stoped on cuts..Klitchko was wining that fights, but the doctor decided that the cut was too bad, and Lewis, instead of getin on again, decided rather to retire. Well done to the Klitchko brother. Dominance unrivaled. If they were American, we would never hear bad things.. Its the American who are bitter as they taught they owned the division.. No longer..cheers
February 17, 2012 at 11:54 am, Cyborg said:
Dilo I have watched that fight at least 7 times (it’s a true heavyweight battle of attrition) but to say that Klitchko was hurting Lewis badly is a bit misleading. Lewis came in at a career heavy (and was admittedly past his best) but Klitchko ate a number of overhand rights and uppercuts and by my estimation could have been knocked out in the next round (although I’ll admit that Lewis looked exhausted). Who would have won had the fight continued is a moot point. The fact of the matter is that Lewis landed enough punches to almost permanently destroy Klotchko’s face and a stoppage on cuts is a TKO, period.
February 17, 2012 at 3:02 pm, Dilo said:
> No Ways, Let me take you through the fight round by round.
You say Permanantly destroy Klitchkos face is way off. The cut was caused by the thump of Lewis right glove and that was not a clean punch. But thats boxing, you may have a different opinion than me, but its not fact, its your opinion. Just go back and watch the way Lewis falls into his seat at the end of the 6th, then come back and tell me who was the more tired fighter. The fight is stopped and Klitchko protests and wants to continue. lewis looks soo happy that the doctor stopped it. Its so obvious. Lewis is also cut up.
Round 1 – Vitali – Not much happened, but Vitali was the more aggresive, he landed more jabs and caught lennox with a couple straight rights to take the round.
Round 2 – Vitali – Klitchko starts well and caught lennox with a big right midway through the round. Lewis holds on and smothers for dear life. Lewis looks slow and out of sorts. Collects another couple rights and in pummled in the closing seconds. Big round for Vitali.
Round 3 – Lennox – Good first minute from lewis. A glazing right in the opening seconds opens a cut above Vitalis left eye. Vitali comes back before geting caught with another right. Left hook from Lewis. Blood pours out and into that eye. Visibility out of left eye is down. Klitchko tries to come back into round, but this 1 belongs to Lewis.
Round 4 – Vitali – First half of this round is dead even. Klitchko cannot see through that eye and Lewis is trying to exploit that and is succeeding but Klitchko also landing. Amazingly, Klichko catches Lewis with a few rights to win the 4th with Lewis holding on and looking really tired.
Round 5 – Lennox – Good 1st minute for Lewis. Nothing much landing, lewis holding and hitting the body which ref lets go! Klitchko comes back well to pummle lewis onto the ropes with som rights. How is Vitali keeping this up with only 1 eye? Not much happens in the last minute and this round is even. You can call it either way. Lewis looks tired. Vitali looks worse for ware due to the blood.
Round 6 – Vitali – Good start by Klitchko with rights. Lewis lands a big uppercut. The middle of the round involves pushing and holding. Good end to the round by Vitali.. bangs lewis onto the ropes. lewis looks like he could go down any time as he uses the ropes to balance himself. Vitali definately looks the stronger.
Klitchko was leading by at least 2 points on all judges, commentators, fans scorecards after 6 rounds..Judges all had it 58 56 in favour of Klitchko..So hey, i cannot see how you had the fight in favor of lewis.. cheers
February 20, 2012 at 12:37 pm, Cyborg said:
> You either misread or misunderstood my post. I didn’t say that Klitchko was not ahead on the scorecards nor did I say that Lewis was winning the fight. What I disagreed with was you saying that Lewis was badly hurt by Klitchko during that fight. The meatier punches (especially THAT uppercut) were landed by Lewis. Yes he looked exhausted but, and this was my argument, you cannot speculate that he was going to go down in the next round purely because he looked more tired than Vitali. This is heavyweight boxing where (as in the Lewis-Rahman fight) anything can change with a single punch. The fact that Lewis retired after that fight is also nothing to look into. He was past his prime, lacked motivation and yet was still able to beat a prime hungry lion like Vitali by TKO. The brother’s are good boxers, yes, but Lewis was better.
February 17, 2012 at 10:56 am, Dirk said:
I also find the Klitchkos so boring but damn they get the job done . they control the fighters behind a stiff jab and everything comes from behind that jab which make it difficult . This boys dont get tired easy . Sander’s showed the way against the younger brother . Speed punching power and combinations RATTLE THEM. If Sanders was in better condition against Vitali i am sure he could have also ko’d him . But basically you cant box them whith their size ,fitness and the stiff jab . Show no respect and bom them . I THINK!!!
February 19, 2012 at 10:44 am, Dilo said:
What a disgrace to boxing Chisora is. Slaping, spiting, then getting into a brawl with Haye (another disgrace) after the fight.. He put up a good fight, tried his best, but didnt com close, then still spews insults after he got a beating..All i can say is, id rather have the Klitchko bros rule the division if this is the calibre of boxers behind them.. It will be a sad day when the retire. cheers
February 20, 2012 at 10:13 am, Fan of the Gun said:
Watched the fight late on Saturday night/Sunday morning.
Think Chisora is a real messed up fighter, after watching him slap his opponent, then spit water in Wladimir’s face, and act like a utter idiot at the post fight conference.
(although, that will make him more popular I guess for future fights?)
I always hope that someone would come to de-throne the Klitchko’s, but was really glad that he got beaten by Vitali.. But I must say, he put up a good fight though.
Now a match that I would LOVE to see, is Chisora against the younger brother, Wladimir…
February 20, 2012 at 10:10 pm, Dirk said:
Vitali must be the heavyweight whith the worst footwork , very clumsy . Their undercards is also a bunch of no hopers . Who ever matches the Klitchko’s is a master in finding palooka’s and boxers past their prime or fights on short notice .