Brick City Boxing

By Les Dowgier

Prior to today’s heavyweight title clash, Dereck Chisora predicted that he would knockout Vitali Klitschko in the 8th round, as that was his lucky number. Vitali countered this prediction by stating that Chisora wouldn’t survive until the 8th round. Neither prediction came true as the two fighters fought a surprisingly competitive and entertaining fight which ended in a unanimous decision victory for the reigning WBC Heavyweight Champion.

From the first round Chisora demonstrated that he had no fear of Vitali, constantly pressing forward and dictating the action, forcing the champion to constantly back up. Vitali kept moving his feet, trying to keep the fight at a distance and landing his shots. This pattern would continue for the full 12 rounds. Though Vitali was landing more and was landing the bigger and cleaner shots, Chisora amazingly kept coming forward, taking everything Vitali was throwing at him.

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Unlike so many prior Klitschko opponents who talked a big game then simply ran once they bell rang and did everything they could not to get knocked out, Chisora showed the heart of a warrior, pressing the action, throwing and landing plenty of shots (including many body shots) and making people wonder whether he had a chin made of titanium.

By the later rounds, Vitali began looking tired and at least a bit discouraged as regardless of the shots he landed on Chisora, the challenger simply kept coming forward and throwing. Despite missing with many wild head punches, taking tremendous punishment and looking generally out classed, Chisora gave Vitali perhaps his toughest fight since the Ukrainian fought Lennox Lewis almost a decade ago.

Despite the great action in the ring, Chisora once again showed his utter lack of class, spitting water into the face of Wladimir Klitschko just prior to the ring introductions. There was a great deal of tension in the ring both before and after the fight between the two camps, specifically the brothers Klitschko and Chisora.

Though I have gained a lot of respect for Chisora as a fighter, and take back what I said about his ring abilities, his outside the ring behavior is still reprehensible. Though I’m sure the Klitschko brothers would like nothing more than to teach Chisora a lesson by knocking him out (with Vitali stating in his post-fight interview that he was disappointed that he hadn’t done so), the best way the brothers can teach Chisora a lesson is simply by not giving him another chance at such a big payday unless he earns a mandatory title shot.

On a side note, one of ring side commentators for the telecast by Box Nation was former WBA Heavyweight Champion and Wladimir challenger David Haye. After the fight, the cocky Haye stated that he saw many flaws in Vitali’s style and can’t wait to fight the elder brother, further stating that if it were him in the ring rather than Chisora, Vitali would not have made it to the final bell. Personally, I think Haye should keep his boasts to himself after the disgraceful performance he turned in against Wladimir and actually learn something from Chisora’s effort today about what it means to be a real fighter.