Vitali Klitschko vs Dereck Chisora: Heavyweight Title Ignored in the States

On Saturday, February 18, 2012, British heavyweight contender Dereck "Del Boy" Chisora, 15(9)-2, will challenge Vitali Klitschko, 43(40)-2(2), for the WBC heavyweight title at Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany.

The Ukranian Klitschko has trained and fought in Germany throughout his career and will be fighting in front of what amounts to a hometown crowd. A defense by either Klitschko brother is a major event in Germany and across the European continent.

In the States, not so much.

Boxrec.com has the fight listed as appearing on Showtime in the United States, but if so, Showtime is not exactly touting it on their boxing homepage and it isn't on the schedule for the afternoon, when it would have to be to broadcast live from Munich. 

Maybe they plan to air a rebroadcast during the Paul Williams-Tavoris Cloud doubleheader, although heavyweight Chris Arreola is fighting on that card as well, so I'm not sure where they would fit it. 

It is understandable that public enthusiasm might be at less than a fever pitch for this matchup. Like his younger brother Wladimir, Vitali Klitschko has appeared more or less unstoppable for the last decade or more. He has one of the most dominant KO ratios in the history of the heavyweight division. 

Chisora, on the other hand, seems to have "earned" this title shot by dropping two of his last three fights, a unanimous decision to Tyson Fury last July and a split decision loss to Robert Helenius in December. Moreover, these two losses came against the only two truly relevant opponents Chisora has fought. Talk about failing upward. Juan Manuel Marquez lost his first fight and didn't get another title shot for a decade. Dereck Chisora drops two fights against fellow contenders in one year and starts off the next year fighting for the belt. 

Such is life in the heavyweight division—particularly during this Age of Klitschko. I give Chisora zero chance of winning this fight, but he still might be the best option available for Klitschko, and from a fan's point of view, Del Boy might be one of the few fighters on the planet likely to make a fight with Vitali Klitschko exciting, if not competitive.

First of all, a lot of people think Chisora deserved to win last December against Helenius, 17(11)-0. The Nordic Nightmare came into that match against Chisora highly regarded in the division, ranked in The Ring top 10 and tagged by Max Kellerman during the Vitali Klitschko-Tomasz Adamek broadcast as the one guy who might compete with the Klitschkos. 

Chisora used excellent head movement and a pressing, in-and-out attack to give the 6'7" Helenius all kinds of problems. The fight he fought against Helenius was essentially the sort of fight a shorter fighter would need to fight against Vitali Klitschko.  

But doing it against Helenius was one thing and doing it against the older Klitschko brother will be something else entirely. Helenius does not have Vitali Klitschko's jab, lateral movement or ability to brawl with two fists. 

And I'm not forgetting about Chisora's performance against Tyson Fury, 17(12)-0, last year, which was pretty one-sided. Fury, another giant, had no trouble stifling Chisora's forward press with a steady jab and aggressive, two-fisted punching.Chisora came into that fight about 20 pounds heavier than was smart for him and it might have cost him some speed and endurance. Either way, Fury outclassed him in that matchup. A decent showing by Chisora against Klitschko will ultimately drive the English-Irish Fury's stock up.

A "decent" showing by Chisora is not out of the question. For his own part, he has been predicting a knockout in every interview he gives. I do believe he will make more of an effort to back up his prediction than his countryman David Haye did in his flop-tastic performance against the younger Klitschko brother.  

Chisora has serious heavyweight punching power and Vitali Klitschko has been stopped twice (a long time ago). He has a puncher's chance to shock the world and walk away as the World Heavyweight Champion (without many sports fans in the United States even noticing). 

More realistically, I predict another knockout for Dr. Iron Fist: Klitschko in eight.