BoxRec

Britain's unbeaten heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora's fight with IBF and WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko has been rearranged for 30 April in Germany.

Chisora had been due to meet Klitschko in December but the fight was postponed because of an injury to the Ukrainian.

It had been expected WBA champion David Haye would seal a unification fight with Klischko but this ends his hopes of meeting the 34-year-old in April.

"This news is a fantastic late Christmas present," said Chisora.

The fight between Klitschko and 26-year-old Chisora could now open up the possibility of fellow Londoner Haye taking on the Ukrainian's brother Vitali Klitschko, who is the WBC champion, in April or May.

"I always believed that I would fight Wladimir Klitschko, and my faith has been repaid," added Chisora.

"I was a bit worried that he might try and fight an easier touch, but I think I've earned my opportunity.

"I was gutted when Wladimir pulled out of our fight just a couple of days beforehand. But now I've got another chance to take his titles away.

"He's a great world champion, but his time at the top is well and truly up.

"My promoter allegedly has done a great job in getting me this opportunity because there was no guarantee Wladimir would fight me again after he got injured."

Wladimir Klitschko should feel ashamed of himself for opting to fight Dereck Chisora rather than set up a unification bout with David Haye, according to the latter's manager and trainer Adam Booth.

Haye, the WBA champion, has been engaged in protracted negotiations with the Ukrainian, who holds the IBF and WBO titles and is regarded as the world's best heavyweight as holder of the respected 'Ring' belt.

However, it was announced on Wednesday that Klitschko will instead honour his agreement to fight Haye's fellow Londoner Chisora, on April 30, after a stomach injury forced the champion to pull out of their proposed clash last month.

An unimpressed Booth told Sky Sports News: "There were lots of people that know Wladimir really didn't want this fight yet.

"It's a shame. It's embarrassing for boxing that the unification fight isn't going to happen now because David's bent over backwards. We've conceded to every single ridiculous demand they made.

"From the start they said 50-50. David said fine, even though potentially we're putting in the pot three or four times more than they're putting into the pot because of pay-per-view Sky box office. David still said 'let's get the fight done 50-50'.

"They said the fight had to be on their German broadcaster even though our German broadcaster was prepared to pay more. We said fine. They said 'we're not coming to England for the fight'. David said 'fine, I'll go to Germany'. They said Wladimir has to be in the red corner, Wladimir has to come in second, Wladimir's name has to be first on the poster and all these other ridiculous, egotistical things, and David said 'fine, have it, just get him in the ring with me'.

"The last thing was, here is the date we now have, we said yes, Sky have approved that date and they turn round and say 'we're now doing Chisora'.

"Wladimir should feel ashamed of himself."

It seemed the financial arrangements for Haye versus Klitschko had been agreed but several stumbling blocks - chiefly available television dates - had yet to be sorted out.

Booth cannot fathom why Klitschko would not agree to fight Haye - other than not being convinced he would triumph.

He added: "When Wladimir first spoke of fighting David, when David was still a cruiserweight, I think he was confident but now as a heavyweight I genuinely don't think he's as confident.

"If he was, why would he want to go out and fight Chisora? If he's confident of beating David, and he's got it all his own way, and we've agreed to all of his terms, if he's confident of beating David, why is he fighting Dereck Chisora for a fraction of the money that he would make to fight David? It makes no sense to me."

Haye had hoped to fight Klitschko in the spring and then his brother Vitali, the WBC champion, in late summer or early autumn before hanging up his gloves as undisputed champion.

"I'm retiring next year, so they have got to pull their socks up," Haye said after mauling Audley Harrison in November. "They have got a deadline and a deadline is a deadline.

"I retire before I'm 31 (October 13) and no way am I going to wait around. It puts an extra bit of pressure on them."

However, unless he can instead face Vitali first and then Wladimir, Haye will now have to wait until the end of this year or even early 2012 before achieving his goals.

Vitali, though, has a mandatory defence against unbeaten Cuban Odlanier Solis on his agenda, leaving Haye kicking his heels until June at the earliest.

British and Commonwealth champion Chisora - who has an unbeaten 14-fight record - was always hopeful he would still get his shot at Wladimir and it was confirmed on Wednesday they will meet in the spring, with Germany still hosting the bout.

"This news is a fantastic late Christmas present," Chisora said.

"I always believed that I would fight Klitschko, and my faith has been repaid. I was a bit worried that he might try to fight an easier touch, but I think I've earned my opportunity.

"I was gutted when Wladimir pulled out of our fight just a couple of days beforehand.

"But now I've got another chance to take his titles away.

"He's a great world champion, but his time at the top is well and truly up.

"My promoter allegedly has done a great job in getting me this opportunity because there was no guarantee Wladimir would fight me again after he got injured."

SteveDow wrote:I read on BS that there is a tentative agreement in place for a July 2nd date between Haye v Klitschko. From a financial perspective this would make sense given that Haye is contracted to one more fight under the Sauerland promotional banner and I believe the Klitschkos have 2 fights left under RTL (both can have 1 fight and the contract ends). This would mean that after these fights both parties could make significantly more money as they are not constrained by any contracts.

That said, this is bloody frustrating for us as fans.

Also, who does Haye fight next? Presumably he'll take the mandatory against Chagaev in the UK in April. Slightly risky fight however and not one which I could see selling particularly well so he may actually not fight at all until July.

WelshDevil wrote:
It is very frustrating. Seems it was Sky who wouldn't approve the April date as it clashed with an Amir Khan PPV.

Hagler2002 wrote:

WelshDevil wrote:
It is very frustrating. Seems it was Sky who wouldn't approve the April date as it clashed with an Amir Khan PPV.

According to Booth the date had been cleared by Sky.