By James Slater: Derek “Del Boy” Chisora, the unbeaten heavyweight contender who has already won both the British and the Commonwealth titles, goes for the big one in just over two months time. Confident he can shock the odds and Ring Magazine, IBF, WBO and IBO king Wladimir Klitschko and bring the belts back to Britain, the 27-year-old is currently working hard in preparations for the biggest fight of his 14-bout, four-year pro career.
Along with his trainer Don Charles, Chisora was kind enough to take some time out to speak with Eastsideboxing earlier today:
James Slater: It’s great to be able to speak with you Del Boy! Can I fire some questions at you?
Derek Chisora: Yeah, man. Do you want the number to my bank account first? (laughs)
J.S: Are you nervous ahead of the fight? It’s pretty close now.
D.C: No, not now. At the start, in the first two or three weeks [of training] I always get nervous: having to get fit, getting myself strong. But come the fight itself, come fight night, I’ll be totally cool and focused on the fight..
J.S: Are you watching tapes of Wladimir, or does Don do that?
D.C: No, I don’t watch any tapes. Don tells me everything; he tells me what his [Wladimir’s] weaknesses are.
J.S: You go to Marbella, for a boot camp soon. What will you be doing there?
D.C: I’ll be doing loads of sparring, loads.
Don Charles: We’ll be leaving England on March 20th. What we hope for – and we don’t know if we’ll actually get it – is at least a hundred rounds of sparring. Or, alternatively, quality is important, so it will be better if we get 60 rounds of quality sparring. The thing is, the so-called prospects of the heavyweight division in the U.K, their managers and promoters seem to be keeping them away from Derek. When he was coming up, Derek sparred everyone all over the country. That’s how you learn. But today, these prospects aren’t doing that. They are being kept away from Derek for some reason. Consequently, we have to go abroad for sparring.
J.S: This really is a huge fight, Don, as you both know. The American fans, a lot of them anyway – they want to see Klitschko get beaten. They are tired of the boring fights.
D.C: That’s right. Even German people want to see Klitschko get beaten. When we were over in Germany, people were telling us they want to see Derek win. This is the most interesting fight Klitschko has been in for a long time and people are slowly coming round to it now. The thing is, we are in it to win it, not just to take part!
J.S: Thanks for your time, Don. Derek, Don has said in the past that you will look to jump on Klitschko, make him uncomfortable and take him out of his game-plan. You see an explosive fight?
D.C: Oh yeah, I definitely see an explosive fight. We’re working on that right now; how to do it right.
J.S: Do you see a KO win? Have you envisioned it in your mind; you standing over him?
D.C: Oh, for sure. I will win the fight.
J.S: We will all be watching live on Sky Sports. Best of luck for the 30th of April.
D.C: Okay, thanks.