Glen McCrorys take on Chisora-Klitchko

[Bricks]

Del Boy would be a plonker to turn down Wlad fight
Glenn McCrory Posted 5th October 2010 view comments So Derek Chisora has been offered a shot at Wladimir Klitschko. I've only got one thing to say on the subject: take it Del Boy!
Opportunity only knocks once and sometimes, in boxing and in life, you only get one shot. And when you get that shot, you have to make sure you are bang on target.
Timing is everything in this sport and it might just be the right time for Del Boy. Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko have been beating up on everyone in the heavyweight division, but that has to come to an end sooner or later.

People will say Chisora is too young, too inexperienced, but so what? He's on a roll right now and although 26 is a baby in heavyweight terms, I still believe the old adage: if you're good enough, you're old enough.
Ok, he has only had three 12-rounders but it's not as if he, like the rest of us, doesn't know what Wladimir is all about. He only has one plan - keep it at long range - and there is never a Plan B.
Derek Chisora has done what he has had to do domestically and until David Haye sorts something out, there is no-one left for the Klitschkos to face. Three months ago I was sat here wondering if Audley Harrison was worthy of a world-title shot but, like it or not, he has his now. So why not Del Boy?
Glenn McCrory
Quotes of the week
Wlad knows he's chinny as well and you do wonder what would happen if a young, hungry fighter, with decent footwork and a decent dig gets in there and starts buzzing around him.
Samuel Peter was supposed to be the man to do that, but turned in a plodding performance with little movement and even less speed. If that fight in Frankfurt three weeks ago was a 400m race, he would still be running!
I'm not saying for a minute Chisora wins this, but why not take the chance? The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali, but at such a young age, Derek can always rebuild from that.
Wladimir lost to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster in his twenties and Vitali was beaten by Lennox Lewis, but both have gone on to rule the heavyweight division.
Chisora has done what he has had to do domestically and until David Haye sorts something out, there is no-one left for the Klitschkos to face. Three months ago I was sat here wondering if Audley Harrison was worthy of a world-title shot but, like it or not, he has his now. So why not Del Boy?
People will also say that the whole experience of a Klitschko fight will be too much for him as well. I disagree.
I was sat ringside for the Peter fight and while yes, Klitschko shows in Germany are massive, massive occasions, they are actually quite sterile when you get there.
They are in huge football stadiums, so the crowd are not right on top of you as they would be at the York Hall, the ringside areas are very staid, with bar and eating areas, and there is no real clamour or hostile atmosphere to contend with. Impressive yes, but intimidating? No. We are not talking about a bear-pit here.
The one thing that will catch Chisora by surprise is the sheer size of Klitschko, but I don't think there is anything he can do in the ring that none of us have seen before.
Chisora really, really impressed in Magnificent Seven and certainly has that star-quality, that twinkle in his eye, that tells me he could be the next star of British boxing.
We just don't know how good he is. We know how good - and bad - Wladimir can be, so what better way for Chisora to find out just what he's got? After all, boxing is littered with stories of people who never got their big chance, that could've been contenders.

[Bricks]

I raised an eyebrow at lines like "The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali".......I mean a career ending, confidence destroying slow sustained beating like that isnt too bad is it!!??

[jamesmcdonnell]

Yes that's my worry. The Klitchsko's tend to give protracted slow beatings, which are precisely the kind which end fighters careered. Getting bombed out in a round is painful and humiliating but generally less damaging than eating ramrod jabs for 9 rounds before being stopped or forced to quit.

[MightyWarrior]

Del wont get much for this, Frank admitted the offer was "not great" the other day. You can just imagine the crappy offer the Klitchkos will slap on the table and say "take it or leave it"

But I guess if he turns it down, then gets beat in a run of the mill fight and never gets another look in....he'll never forgive himself for not going for it while he had the chance.

[jamesmcdonnell]

Precisely, they are going to offer him peanuts. He'll be lucky to get 5% of the purse I would imagine. Wlad will want the major share of any monies, and Del isn't in a position to argue, because if he refuses, then Wlad can just fight someone else instead who fancies the shot.

It's worth it if he can win, but I would suggest that if he starts taking a protracted beating, his corner should pull him our sooner rather than later if he's not in the fight. No shame in losing to a much more experienced fighter - and no sense him taking a hammering for very little reward.

[Hagler2002]

McCrory talks out of his hole! he always has.

[freddydoesdallas]

Carl Baker, Danny Williams, Sam Sexton then Wlad Klitschko

Can't see it happening, it will go one way and that won't be good for Del Boy. Sexton caught him fairly easily, Wlad will just make him eat leather until he's finally got no fight left and then land a big right

[hurlock]

i dont think his corner will let him take a one sided pasting.


all i can say, is rumble young man rumble arrrrghh :!:

[Bricks]

Well if his corner "doesnt let him take a pasting" he will be accused of quitting over a few jabs and launching a pathetic attempt by those who never had to step in the ring for a loaf of bread in their life.

The Klitchkos take souls......the jab the surreally intimidating atmosphere (am i really shit scared in front of 60,000 people in dinner jackets clapping slowly) the monstrous face of Wladimir....it is a demanding situation for even a seasoned fighter....it slowly eeks the life out of a fighter.....

The problem i have is I just think Del is a confident character his career is progressing along very nicely. He is perhaps 2 years away from a real well seasoned attempt.....in two years time Vitali may be out of the picture........two years is a good amount of time to get seasoned.

[hurlock]

he can come again :!:

wlad lost to journeyman ross purity when he first started out topping bill's, look at him now.

[bfchunk]

I raised an eyebrow at lines like "The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali".......I mean a career ending, confidence destroying slow sustained beating like that isnt too bad is it!!??

I think he should take this fight, but this comment by McCrory is ridiculous!

Sosnowski probably came out with more respect with how he performed against Vitali and I hope the same happens to Chisora.

If Chisora is in the middle of a sustained one sided beat down I hope both he and his corner consider prolonging the fight carefully. There's plenty of time to come back.

Fingers crossed for shock of the year (or many years) though.

[hurlock]

how can you criticise mcory the man is in the g.b.o.r for blessin himself 10times in a second DD

[SAPFO]

This will pay his mortgage. I'd do it now if I had the chance. Wost is a beating, best is World Heavyweight Champion, and worlds most famous man the next day. I think Chisora will win the first few rounds.

[lefty]

This will pay his mortgage. I'd do it now if I had the chance. Wost is a beating, best is World Heavyweight Champion, and worlds most famous man the next day. I think Chisora will win the first few rounds.

Worlds most famous man?Im not sure about that! ..in the olden days of the heavyweight division yes but not currently.

[Nightmare Roy]

The money he will get makes a sustained beating a worthwhile venture; IF it comes to that.

FW said the money on offer wasn't that good in his column, but i'm guessing he should get at least £200 000 for a big fight like this.

[lurkyshaka]

Despite his obvious strengths....Wlad Klitschko is chinny, has been KO'd thrice and on the floor i think 11 times in his career.

Course its a big gamble for Chisora but one worth taking imo. Its not like Klitschko has never shown vulnerability, there is plenty for Chisora to feel positive about. He's pretty quick and speed bothers Klitschko, he has decent power and we all know Klitschko goes all wide eye'd whenever he gets hit. And Chisora has shown a decent workrate and stamina while Klitschko is certainly suspect in those areas.

Klitschko will be a big favourite and understandably so....but far better fighters than Klitschko have been upset by worse challengers than Chisora. Go for it DelBoy!

[bennie]

Does anyone remember when Glenn took on big Lennox? Glenn was a gutsy bastard in the ring but he wasn't stupid. He felt the wind of Lennox's punches and went down quicker than Katie Price.

[Hagler2002]

Does anyone remember when Glenn took on big Lennox? Glenn was a gutsy bastard in the ring but he wasn't stupid. He felt the wind of Lennox's punches and went down quicker than Katie Price.

He took the Lewis fight for nothing more than a pay day, he got 3 times the amount he had received for any fight previous.

He stalked Lewis for months following him around London, waiting for him coming out of nightclubs and causing a scene until Lennox eventually agreed to a fight.

With the money he bought a pub which done quite well.

[oliverfennell]

I raised an eyebrow at lines like "The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali".......I mean a career ending, confidence destroying slow sustained beating like that isnt too bad is it!!??

Undeniably that had an effect on Danny, but it wasn't "career-ending". Well, I know what you're getting at, but consider that Danny went on to beat two more world-ranked (at the time) opponents in Harrison and Skelton, as well as a handful of other prospects, earning well as he did so, and it doesn't look so bad. I don't think Williams would have done much more than that in the remaining years of his career even without the Klitschko thumping.

[earsjohn]

This will pay his mortgage. I'd do it now if I had the chance. Wost is a beating, best is World Heavyweight Champion, and worlds most famous man the next day. I think Chisora will win the first few rounds.

Worlds most famous man?Im not sure about that! ..in the olden days of the heavyweight division yes but not currently.

When Buster Douglas beat Tyson it was world news; when Hasim Rahman KO'd Lennox Lewis the story ran on every major news outlet in the Western world and Africa. I'm not sure about how much coverage it got elsewhere but I would imagine it was fairly substantial. Whilst Wlad doesn't have the same level of fame that Tyson and Lennox had, if he were dispatched by Chisora, it would be very big news. Chisora beating Wlad would be a bigger upset than either of the two other examples I highlighted.

In terms of an upset, it kind of all depends on what Chisora goes on to achieve. The Tyson-Douglas upset has been downplayed over the years since as a result of Tysons mind being elsewhere, alleged dodgy officiating, etc, while the Lewis-Rahman upset was dismissed due to the conditions at the arena and Lennox's ambivalent approach to training in the build up. However, at the time of the results, they were huge upsets and if fora such as this had existed in those days the build up would have been full of cries of violent humiliations for both challengers while decrying the boxing authorities for allowing such mismatches to go ahead.

Now consider Wlad v Chisora - at the present time it would be a huge upset win by a no-hoper against the undisputed no1 heavyweight. But if Chisora wins and then goes on to have a successful career at the highest level of the heavyweight division, this fight would be looked back on, not so much as a shock but maybe a passing of the baton.

I'm not saying I think that kind of future is in store for either Wlad or Dereck, but a potential upset needs to be compared to how other upsets were viewed prior to the fights, rather than after them. So while I think it would be big news, especially in UK, Ukraine and Germany, it would not have the kind of global, non-sports media impact of the Tyson and Lewis defeats.

[jamesmcdonnell]

I raised an eyebrow at lines like "The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali".......I mean a career ending, confidence destroying slow sustained beating like that isnt too bad is it!!??

Undeniably that had an effect on Danny, but it wasn't "career-ending". Well, I know what you're getting at, but consider that Danny went on to beat two more world-ranked (at the time) opponents in Harrison and Skelton, as well as a handful of other prospects, earning well as he did so, and it doesn't look so bad. I don't think Williams would have done much more than that in the remaining years of his career even without the Klitschko thumping.

Danny was clearly never the same after that beating.

To be honest I think it was the Tyson fight which started the rot, Danny took a pasting for two solid rounds in that fight and absorbed some massive shots.

[balance]

Williams lost to Francis, Sprott and Sam before the Tyson or Vitali fights. Clearly he was not a top level fighter and was out of his league against Vitali. He was good enough to beat a Tyson that Kevin mcBride beat. He went on to beat Harrison after the Tyson and Klitschko fights. Harrison is better than Francis, Sprott or Sam so I don't think Williams was "never the same". He just was never that good.

[stujones]

Harrison is 1-1 with an older, slower, Sprott. He beat an aged Francis (this distance). I think a prime Francis beats him.

Williams was 2-1 with Sprott with most people thinking he beat Sprott in the third meeting.

Samil Sam would have beaten Audley.

[King Haye]

id like to see him take it not sayin he will win but think he can do better than most heavyweights out there, if he does get a shock loss or god forbid somethin bad happen he will regret it so i think he should take it now.

[oliverfennell]

I raised an eyebrow at lines like "The worst think that can happen is that he gets a one-sided pasting, like Danny Williams did against Vitali".......I mean a career ending, confidence destroying slow sustained beating like that isnt too bad is it!!??

Undeniably that had an effect on Danny, but it wasn't "career-ending". Well, I know what you're getting at, but consider that Danny went on to beat two more world-ranked (at the time) opponents in Harrison and Skelton, as well as a handful of other prospects, earning well as he did so, and it doesn't look so bad. I don't think Williams would have done much more than that in the remaining years of his career even without the Klitschko thumping.

Danny was clearly never the same after that beating.

To be honest I think it was the Tyson fight which started the rot, Danny took a pasting for two solid rounds in that fight and absorbed some massive shots.

I see what you're saying. Certainly his punch resistance/reflexes were not as sharp as before. But the point is, the kind of results he ground out post-Klitschko were still decent and I can't imagine he'd have done much better/achieved much more than that without the effects of the Klitschko fight. After all, there wasn't much on his pre-Tyson record to suggest he would have.