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Heavyweight ruler Vitali Klitschko was pushed hard last night at Munich’s Olympiahalle, fending off the challenge of Britain’s Dereck Chisora over 12 grueling rounds to retain the WBC title.
The always unpredictable Chisora found a way to top previous bizarre weigh-in performances by slapping Klitschko during a face-off before spitting water in the face of Vitali’s brother, WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO king Wladimir Klitschko, in the ring during pre-fight ceremonies.
As expected in light of such transgressions, Klitschko was eager to put punishment on the challenger and fought the first round in a pace that was quicker and more aggressive than is usual for the Ukrainian.
This could have been the ultimate aim of Chisora as Klitschko was now standing closer to the opponent, rather than further away as is his custom, not using distance to maximize the power in his massive right hand punches or the momentum killing jab.
When Klitschko connected the first couple of times with the right, Chisora seemed taken aback, like almost all other opponents of “Dr. Iron Fist”, but the Londoner soon became accustomed to the force of those bombs, showing what has to be the best chin in the division.
Chisora kept coming forward, doing his best to slip the champion’s punches but getting caught at times by quick left hooks and jabs along with the occasional right. The Englishman looked for the surprise angle at the end of some of the early rounds, launching huge punches a split second before the bell but none of these landed.
The challenger tried a few roundhouse rights early on but Klitschko either pulled away from the blow or took it on the shoulder so Chisora’s focus soon switched to throwing the right hand to the body.
This strategy had a positive results for the challenger as it helped to tire the ever-backpedaling Klitschko, at 40, 12 years older than Chisora and opened up possibilities for Chisora’s right to sneak upstairs while the champion was expecting a body shot.
A few of those moments came and Klitschko was rocked but showed that he too has a very good beard.
By the seventh and eighth, the round in which Chisora predicted he’d knock out Klitschko, the challenger was giving Vitali his hardest fight since the 2003 clash with Lennox Lewis.
Klitschko looked very tired between rounds by this stage of the contest but the towering Kiev man got his second wind, showing good footwork and remarkably fast hands for such a massive boxer, whipping in bracing counter shots.
Although Chisora was never hurt, Klitschko’s right hands and the constant effort required to back up the champion while providing a moving target took their toll on “Del Boy”, who looked exhausted by the end of the 12th frame.
When the scores were read, Klitschko retained the WBC title for the eighth time by scores of 119-111 and 118-110 twice, moving to 44-2 (40), while the very big-hearted Chisora, 15-3 (9), joins Shannon Briggs, Kevin Johnson and Timo Hoffman as the only fighters to last the distance with Klitschko in losing efforts.
The undercard saw former IBO cruiserweight titlist Johnathan Banks, 28-1-1 (18), retained his NABF heavyweight strap with a cautious points verdict over Nicolai Firtha, 20-10-1 (8), by scores of 119-109, 119-109 and 120-108.
