By James Slater – It’s the heavyweight fight of the year that everyone is talking about……..for all the wrong reasons. Due to the enormous amount of controversy the fight between David Haye and Dereck Chisora has caused (the fight set for July 14th in London, a reported 20,000 tix already sold), everyone has an opinion on it: should it happen? Is it bad for boxing? Has the power of The BBB of C been permanently undermined due to the fight being allowed to go ahead (with sanctioning provided by The Luxemburg commission, even through the fight will take place in the U.K)?
Well, President Don Jose of the WBC sure has his opinion on the upcoming fight, and “humble servant of boxing” Sulaiman ain’t happy. The ruler of the WBC has vowed to remove licences from everyone involved in the fight (if it happens, and there is still a chance, albeit a small one, that it could fall apart) – including U.K promoter Frank Warren.
However, as has been reported by a number of sources, the WBA and the WBO will sanction the fight; with two minor titles, one from each rival organisation, being on the line in the all-London fight..
Of course, Warren is not going to take any of this lying down, and he has already written strongly-worded letters to the BBB of C, who have also threatened to take action if the bout goes ahead. Warren insists he has done, and is doing, nothing wrong. The WBC has now added to the whole controversial mess.
From a pure fan standpoint, Haye-Chisora is a fight that will be a big deal throughout Europe, but not in the U.S. Haye says he wants to face WBC king Vitali Klitschko after he’s taken care of “Del Boy,” but no way will the WBC allow this to happen. Nor will the organisation allow Chisora to fight for their heavyweight title. Maybe the winner will get a crack at the “regular” WBA title – with “regular” WBA heavyweight champ Alexander Povetkin set to defend his almost meaningless “world” title on the London card against Hasim Rahman.
If this proves to be the case, however, yet more scorn will be poured on Haye or Chisora. Basically, July 14th’s fight is a decent match-up between two British contenders – a fight that has attracted so many headlines simply due to a ton of controversy; controversy which began back in February, when two pro athletes behaved like thugs at a post-fight press conference in Munich, Germany.