For Haye, however, Klitschko harbours “genuine dislike”.
“When Wladimir beat David Haye, I was happy and upset at the same time,” explained Klitschko. “We had unified the titles [as brothers] but I was upset because Wlad had not send him to the floor.”
“There is a huge motivation for me to fight Haye, but we are a long way from signing this contest. The itch is there all the time - unfinished business. I remember Haye’s words, and there is no forgiveness. He touched me personally, insulted me as a man, and my dislike is genuine. When I knock him out, there can be no excuses.”
But if he had to choose - Lennox or Haye ? “It would still be Lennox.” He was the official winner – but I was ahead on the cards – the unofficial winner. I’ve talked to him many times down the years, and now he says he’d need years to get into great shape to fight me.”
“But Chisora is one of the young guys, he is hungry for success, and I will train as hard as possible because he is dangerous.”
Chisora will be a huge underdog against Klitschko, and will need to pull off a victory on a par with 40-1 outsider Buster Douglas beating Mike Tyson, Hasim Rahman defeating Lewis, or even Leon Spinks – in his eighth pro fight – outworking the great Muhammad Ali over 15 rounds in 1978 to earn a points decision.
“It doesn’t get any bigger than this: the WBC heavyweight belt,” Chisora, 27, asserted. “He might be the champion, Dr Ironfist, a politician, but I’m going to be all over him like the Black Plague. I’m young, I’m hungry and this is a great opportunity. I can make him look old in the ring, put him under pressure.”
Frank Warren, Chisora’s promoter, added: “He has only had 18 fights but when he’s in shape, he’s a match for anyone. I don’t care what anyone else says about Dereck being the underdog, he will put in a much, much better performance than David Haye did against his brother, he won’t be fighting on the outside – complaining about his little toe- he will be in there throwing his shots. If he outworks this guy, he will be competitive.”
- Watch Klitschko v Chisora live on BoxNation (Sky channel 456, Virgin channel 546)