By Michael Collins: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko rarely knocks out his opponents early in his fights, and that’s not likely to change on February 18th in his defense against Britain’s Dereck Chisora (15-2, 0 KO’s) at the Olypiahalle in Munich, Germany. Vitali doesn’t punch with a lot of speed but does have excellent power. He tends to bludgeon his opponents into submission, usually in the 2nd half of his fights.
This bout will likely be no exception to that rule unless Chisora doesn’t back off when he starts getting nailed by huge shots in the 1st round. Chisora isn’t stupid, as we saw in his last fight against Robert Helenius. When Chisora was hit especially hard, he’d back off. But Helenius wasn’t able to throw enough right hands to get Chisora on the run and in the survival mode.
Vitali will be able to do that and if Chisora continues to come forward against his better judgment, he’ll get knocked out quickly in this fight. He’s too short and will be getting nailed with Vitali, who will be loading up on his shots and getting a lot of leverage on his punches courtesy of his 6’7” body. Chisora talks a good game but he’ll be broken down mentally and physically by the 6th and will be little more than a British punching bag for Vitali to batter in front of the German audience in Munich.
I’d like nothing more than to see Chisora actually make a fight of it, but there’s nothing in his resume that suggests that he’ll do anything other than take a one-sided beating. You’d like to see heavyweight challengers come into title fights following a win, but in this Chisora is coming into the fight having lost his last fight against Helenius. And two fights before that, Chisora was beaten by Tyson Fury. Vitali must have been desperate or bored when he agreed to fight Chisora because it’s just so rare to have a heavyweight champion defending his title against a guy that was just beaten.