By John F. McKenna (McJack)
Dereck Chisora (15-2, 9 KO’s) is taking his title shot against WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko (43-2, 40 KO’s) very seriously. Chisora will be fighter Vitali on February 18, 2012 in Munich, Germany in a fight which most boxing fans give him little chance at emerging victorious. But sometimes when a fighter is going after the biggest prize in sports he fights above himself.
The history of boxing, particularly in the heavyweight division, is replete with stories of fighters pulling off huge upsets, going all the way back to Jack Dempsey’s annihilation of Jess Willard on July 4, 1919. The 6’1 ½”, 187 pound Dempsey was given almost no chance to defeat the 6’6”, 245 pound “Pottawatomie Giant” Willard and started having second thoughts about it when he saw Willard flexing his huge muscles across the ring.
But the “Manassa Mauler” quickly put his fears behind him and attacked Willard with a viciousness never seen in the ring before or since. Three rounds later a legend was born as Dempsey ushered in a new era in boxing. Jimmy Braddock’s victory over Max Baer was like a fairy tale and so unlikely that to this day he is referred to as the “Cinderella Man”.
Then fast forward to 1990 when Buster Douglas knocked out the unbeatable “Iron Mike” Tyson. The only thing that is certain in boxing is that there will continue to be huge upsets. This is not to suggest for a minute that “Del-Boy” Chisora is going to defeat “Dr. Ironfist” but stranger things have happened.
Chisora will have a huge height and reach disadvantage against the 6’7 ½” Klitschko. But in his fight against the 6’6” Roberst Helenius on December 3 Dereck was able to get inside by being aggressive. Chisora lost the fight in one of the worst decisions in memory but he was impressive enough that Klitschko thought he deserved a title shot.
“Del-Boys” strategy will almost certainly be to get in the best shape possible, as he failed to do in his loss to Tyson Fury. He was in much better condition against Helenius and it showed. In order to get inside on Vitali he needs to use lots of head movement while at the same time moving forward. Chisora needs to apply continuous, unrelenting pressure to succeed against Vitali who has given no indication that he is slowing down.
Dereck cannot make the mistake of allowing Klitschko to take control of the fight as he has successfully done in almost all of his previous fights. If he allows Vitali to start pounding him with his thudding left jab the fight will turn into another one sided Klitscko victory.
