Dereck Chisora Slaps Vitali Klitschko, Amping Up Hype for Heavyweight Showdown

Once the biggest draw for the sport of boxing, the heavyweight division has seen a lull over the past few years. Every once in a while, an intriguing fight pops up, as is the case with this weekend's bout between WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and British upstart Dereck Chisora.

The fight had been getting hardly any press here in the United States, but Chisora did a good and a bad thing when he slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in for their fight tomorrow in Munich, Germany.

It is a good thing in the sense that it will get the fight a boost in the hype department, as it is sure to air on the major sports networks around the globe today. Getting the general public's attention on the fight, seeing that there is obviously bad blood between the two fighters, will only draw a bigger audience now than was going to tune in pre-slap.

But it is a bad thing in the sense that he got Klitschko's (43-0, 40 KOs) blood pumping the day before the fight, and Klitschko will not forget the show of disrespect that Chisora (15-2, 9 KOs) showed him today.

Klitschko has unbelievable knockout power, winning by KO in 40 of his 43 fights, giving him an incredible 93 percent KO-to-win ratio.

Chisora is coming into the biggest fight of his four-year career after losing two of his last three fights, and he didn't need to give Klitschko any extra motivation before the two face off tomorrow. The Klitschkos have shown that they don't take kindly to disrespect before fights and have taken it out on opponents before.

The latest victim of the the Klitschko's was at the hands of Wladimir Klitschko, when he beat David Haye on his way to a unanimous decision after Haye trash-talked Klitschko multiple times before their bout last July.

There is no doubt in my mind that Vitali will not hold back tomorrow. He will KO Chisora to remind him: if you disrespect a Klitschko, you get the beating of your lifetime.