In 1966, after the overmatched, former British heavyweight champ Brian London was stopped in three one-sided rounds by Muhammad Ali, a courier rode up to the fighter’s home in Blackpool and knocked on the door.
London’s wife stuck out her head. The courier asked if Brian was home. His wife said no.
“Well,” the courier reportedly said as he handed her an envelope, “I’ve got his purse from the fight.”
“Oh!” she blinked. “You mean they’re giving it to ‘im?”
In the sport’s long and colorful history, only 10 men who held the British heavyweight title were given the opportunity to fight for a world heavyweight championship.
Beginning with Gunner Moir in 1907, the names of the earnest but outgunned British champs who attempted to win the sport’s top prize include Tommy Farr, the aforementioned London, Henry Cooper, Joe Bugner, Richard Dunn, Danny Williams and, most recently, Matt Skelton.
Only two – Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis and the not-so-great Herbie Hide – managed to win the big prize.
Even though the odds were stacked against him, the current British and Commonwealth Champion Derek ‘Del Boy’ Chisora, a 14-fight pro from London, had hoped to join Lewis and Hide on the winning side of the ledger.
Now it appears likely his name won’t be added to the ledger at all.
Today, Wladimir Klitschko announced that he is withdrawing from his April 30 world title defense against Chisora, which was to have taken place at the SAP Arena in Mannheim, Germany. Klitschko and Chisora were originally slated to fight on Dec. 11, 2010, but Klitschko called off that fight on Dec. 6 claiming a pulled abdominal muscle.
According to Klitschko’s physician, Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt, the champion hasn’t sufficiently recovered from the abdominal injury he suffered three months ago and therefore cannot properly prepare to defend his World Boxing Organization and International Boxing Federation titles on April 30.
“Considering the current clinical picture, it is difficult to predict a precise time of rehabilitation,” said Müller-Wohlfahrt. “The start of a training camp for a fight in April would be too much of a risk.”
Klitschko Apologizes to Ticket Buyers, Not to Chisora
Though the announcement was met with a collective shrug, it’s clear that 'Del Boy’ deserved better.
Klitschko plucked Chisora from relative obscurity late last year and offered him the opportunity to fight for the championship. At the time, Chisora’s selection seemed to be a clear attempt to diffuse some of the buzz being generated by the all-England World Boxing Association heavyweight championship fight between David Haye and Audley Harrison.
Once Haye-Harrison was over, though, Klitschko seemed to have little use for Chisora.
Today in Mannheim, Klitschko apologized to those who purchased a ticket to the sold-out April 30 card. But the apology failed to mention Chisora or the fact that he’s dangled a title shot in front of the 29-year-old twice only to rescind the offer both times.
“I am very sorry about cancelling the fight, especially for all the fans,” Klitschko stated in broken English. “I have already fought (in Mannheim) three times. I became world champion in this arena. However, I am optimistic that soon we’ll have an event in Mannheim.”
Of course, rumors abound that Klitschko’s manager Bernard Boente is currently negotiating with Haye’s manager Adam Booth for a July 2 unification bout. Their match would be the most anticipated heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis fought Mike Tyson in 2002.
Haye has also complained long and loud that the April 30 fight between Klitschko and Chisora made it all but impossible for the unification bout to take place on July 2 (when all of the television networks that need to be involved have an open date) because Klitschko would have to fight two bouts within an eight-week span, something he hasn’t done in more than a decade.
The back and forth between the two camps only escalated this year after Klitschko chose to reschedule the Chisora bout instead of moving ahead with the unification.
“Very rarely in boxing do you get a situation where you have all the pieces of the puzzle (in place) and all the politics have been smoothed over,” Haye told the Daily Mail while training in Miami last month. “Then he (Klitschko) announces he is fighting Chisora. It is a shame he has now shown his true colors. It does not make sense, especially after all the public campaigning to get me in the ring.”
On Feb. 7, Klitschko was interviewed by the BBC and promised he would be ready to fight Haye on July 2, and then he challenged the WBA champ to sign a contract.
“I know the British fans are looking forward to this fight and I'm looking forward to fighting David Haye,” Klitschko said. “I’m right here and I’m confirming that July 2, as I’ve said before, that's the date for the fight. Either David Haye takes it or he just leaves the whole thing there.”
The same day, the Daily Mail caught up with Booth, who pointedly responded to Klitschko’s comment.
“Turn up where?” Booth asked. “There is no venue. People must stop listening to this crap from the Klitschkos. The truth is that taking Chisora is Wladimir's cowardly way of ducking David. And if by some chance Wladimir loses to Chisora, the financial picture would alter because it would no longer be a unification fight.”
Today’s cancellation of the Chisora fight now helps to clear the path for a Klitschko-Haye fight unless, of course, Frank Warren, Chisora’s powerful British promoter, has anything to say about it.
And he most certainly will.
Chisora’s Championship Dream Now a Nightmare
“It’s every kid’s dream to get the opportunity to box for a world title, and once the opportunity knocked on my door, I grabbed it with my hands and my legs at the same time,” said a smiling Chisora on Oct. 18, 2010, shortly after the press conference announcing his bout with Klitschko. “I wasn’t going to let it go.”
Chisora seemed to relish his time in the spotlight. Over the next two months, while he and Klitschko prepared for their bout, both spent a fair amount of time ridiculing the November meeting between Haye and Harrison. After Harrison’s third-round knockout loss to Haye, Chisora quickly pounced.
“Audley was appalling and the best thing he can do now is emigrate,” Chisora told all who would listen. “I will put that right by pulling off a massive shock against the real world champion.”
But after Harrison’s poor performance against Haye, several big names in British boxing began questioning whether the inexperienced Chisora should be allowed to fight the veteran Klitschko, who has nearly 60 pro fights under his belt.
Jarvis Astaire, who once promoted the career of British legend Frank Bruno, even asked the British Boxing Board of Control to intervene and do something to stop the match. But the Board declined.
Chisora and Haye met publicly for the last time on Dec. 6, 2010, five days before they were scheduled to fight the first time. Both appeared fit and ready to do battle.
“I had a great training camp in Austria and cannot wait to step into the ring,” Klitschko told media present. “I will show him what it is like to fight on a championship level against a man in the ring. He might have big dreams, but I will send him back to the UK without any belts.”
But Del Boy stood defiant.
“I have power and I am young,” Chisora insisted. “Klitschko is 34 years old, slow and on the downside of his career. I am 29 years old, very fast and at the peak of my career.”
Two days later, the fight was off.
The ‘Loophole’ That Could Lead to a Klitschko-Haye Fight
But something didn’t smell quite right.
On Dec. 9, just 24 hours after the cancellation, Klaus-Peter Dittrich, a representative for the Klitschko Management Group, raised eyebrows when he said Klitschko wasn’t necessarily looking at rescheduling the Chisora match. Dittrich said the team was considering a number of possible opponents, including Haye and two-division champion Tomasz Adamek.
Once Warren got wind of the discussion, he rushed to the nearest television studio and told Sky Sports News that he was going to enforce the letter of the contract and Klitschko had to reschedule the fight with Chisora within 180 days.
“The contract states they've got 30 days to give us a new date, and the fight should take place within 180 days of the postponement," Warren said. “That's what we're waiting for. But the fight will take place next year.”
Klitschko’s manager responded by pointing out that Warren had missed a loophole in the contract. Boente claimed the contract did allow Klitschko to fight another opponent if two situations occurred. The first being Klitschko had to suffer an injury during training that was significant enough to call off the fight. The second was Klitschko had 30 days after the announcement of the postponement to negotiate and sign an agreement with another boxer.
But that argument ceased when a deal couldn’t be reached with Haye within the 30-day window. Klitschko then rescheduled with Chisora. With the title fight seemingly locked up, 'Del Boy' couldn’t help but do a little gloating.
“Nobody from our camp ever looked for a fight with Wladimir Klitschko, he offered us the fight,” Chisora said. “He could have faced David Haye, but he chose me. I was not surprised that the Ukrainian made me an offer after the cancellation of our fight. To me, Haye is a little girl who is still crying. David had signed a contract with Klitschko (in 2008), but he was afraid to fight him.”
However, with the Chisora bout off again due to injury, Klitschko now has another 30 days to make a fight with Haye.
Klitschko-Haye Have 30 Days to Agree to Terms
Today, Haye tweeted 140-pound champion Amir Khan that he was leaving Miami and heading to London to sign contracts for his next fight and that an agreement with Klitschko was “looking good” for July.
Now it is only a matter of time before Warren raises the issue, and rightfully so, of just how seriously the champion is hurt.
Yes, Klitschko trotted out his physician today to explain the abdominal injury. But the champion has also been extensively photographed vacationing over the Christmas holiday with his brother Vitali, jetting around the globe attending events, showing up at movie premiers with his actress-girlfriend Hayden Panettiere, and, just three days ago, participating in a public showcase of the “Ukraine Sports Build Together” program, where he played with a group of children.
In a move that may backfire on the Klitschko team, Wlad even gave the assembled media at the “Build Together” event an update on negotiations with the Haye camp.
“The contract is not signed yet, but we already have something important – a preliminary agreement (to fight) on July 2,” Klitschko said. “The fight will be in Europe. We will divide the money fifty-fifty.”
If Klitschko and Haye do go ahead and fight, Warren and Chisora may seek a large chunk of that 50-50 split via a lawsuit.
One person who hasn’t spoken publicly today is Derek Chisora. And if 'Del Boy' wasn't aware of it before now, it's clear that he has been used as a pawn in the Klitschko-Haye negotiations.
For a man who said he grabbed hold of the offer to fight for the world championship “with both arms and legs,” it will definitely be a humbling trip back to the domestic fight scene.
