By James Slater: Today in Munich, Germany, WBC heavyweight king Vitali Klitschko and his next challenger Dereck Chisora met at a press conference to officially announce their Feb. 18th fight. The press conference took place a day later than originally scheduled due to “Del Boy” missing his flight yesterday.
Today the two men posed for the traditional face-to-face photos, with both guys smiling like they meant it for long periods. There is no bad blood here, and neither was there any real trash-talking. At one point the challenger reached out to touch “Dr. Iron Fist’s” green belt, and both men beamed. Interestingly, 40-year-old Klitschko then spoke of how the fight might be one of the toughest of his long career. Perhaps worryingly for Klitschko fans, Vitali went as far as to say Chisora has a “50/50 chance of winning the fight.”
Klitschko also stated that he will “fight likes it’s my last fight.” Vitali also predicted that he will “knock him out with my right.”
As experienced as any world champion out there, Vitali has seen it all, done it all as far as press conferences go. Realising that talk is cheap, Klitschko doesn’t have to talk tough – he simply fights tough when the bell rings. As such, it was left to Chisora to provide most of the sound-bites today.
“I know my opponent and I know he hasn’t seen anything like me,” Chisora said. “They call him The Doctor here and I call myself the most dangerous plague in the world. It will be the shock of his life.”
I have no doubt Chisora will train his way to peak fitness and come in ready to fight with his all come February, but is there anything the former British heavyweight champ can do that will shock Vitali? Klitschko said he will in no way shape or form underestimate his latest challenger, that he will instead “prepare intensely” for the fight. There is no doubting Chisora’s fighting ability – as those fans who saw his impressive performance against the unbeaten (and very, very lucky) Robert Helenius will know. But does Chisora hit hard enough to trouble the granite-chinned champ?
Klitschko sounded genuinely happy that his challenger was coming across as such a confident man.
“He sounds confident and that is good. I will arrange a wakeup call so he can make the fight on time,” Vitali said with another smile. “After our meeting there will be no questions [about who is better.]”
Klitschko added how he was impressed by Chisora’s efforts against Helenuis, and that he expects an interesting fight. With a summer date with David Haye also on the line, February’s fight is sure to be interesting. Far more so than younger brother Wladimir’s rescheduled defence against Jean Marc Mormeck. Both brothers do look set for another year of dominance. Chisora, however, is at the very least a live underdog.