Klitschko Cancels Mormeck Fight

With recent surgery WBO/IBF/WBA/IBO/RING heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko decided to pull out of his voluntary title defense against Jean-Marc Mormeck scheduled for this Saturday, December 10th.  There are talks that the fight could be rescheduled for March 3, but the IBF would have to approve because Klitschko would be requested to fight a mandatory challenger on that date.

"We hope to know in two or three days. Mormeck is also ready to accept it," Boente said.

Klitschko had abdominal pain in training camp on Friday and went to Innsbruck for treatment before he was transferred to a Duesseldorf hospital where the stone was removed Saturday, but Klitschko returned to the hospital Sunday before a scheduled television appearance.  With there being a complication this close to the fight the team has decided to pull out.   This would have been Wladimir's 20th title bout and his 1st appearance since beating Britain's David Haye for the WBA title strap.

Klitschko Chisora Cancelled

The April 30th fight between WBO/IBF/IBO/RING heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and Dereck Chisora is once again called off because the original abdominal injury he suffered in December is not healed enough that his doctor Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt said he should not endure intensive training in preparation for the bout.

Back in December Wladimir had a CT scan and was diagnosed with a two inch tear on the left side of his abdominal muscle near the bottom of his rib cage. The injury apparently is not fully healed.

Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt Quotes

“Considering the current clinical picture, it is difficult to predict a precise time of rehabilitation. The start of a training camp at this time for a fight in April would be too much of a high risk."

Wladimir Klitschko Quotes

“I am very sorry about cancelling the fight – especially for all fans in the already sold-out SAP arena in Mannheim. I have already fought there three times, 2006 I became World Champion in this arena. However, I am optimistic that soon we’ll have an event in Mannheim.”

Bernd Boente Quotes

*Klitschko's manager

"All this has absolutely nothing to do with a possible Haye fight. [The Haye fight is] getting close, but why should our position except the injury be different now than in January?"

Shelly Finkel Quotes

*Klitschko's advisor

"I don't know if he was shadowboxing or what, but Wladimir said he felt something within the last week. He had it checked out."

Wladimir Klitschko Video Explanation

Klitschko Chisora Is Off!!

The heavyweight championship fight between current WBO/IBF/IBO/RING heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and challenger Derek Chisora is off due to Wladimir suffering a last minute injury to his left abdominal muscle while working the mitts today.  Stay tuned for more information.

Frank Warren Quotes

*promoter K2 promotions..

"I was informed about an hour ago that Klitschko pulled a back muscle and he was out of the fight. Dereck is very disappointed,. He didn't believe it. He felt everything was fine. Three or four days before a title fight, most of the hard work is done."

Dr. Sven Roessing Quotes

** Orthopedic specialist at university hospital Mannheim, Germany...

“The abdominal muscle is injured and therefore Wladimir Klitschko will not be able to fight on Saturday."


Klitschko will have to rest for about 4 to 6 weeks. This is the first time in Wladimir's professional career he had to cancel a fight due to an injury. They are talking already about reschedule the fight. Klitschko's team will speak with Germany network RTL soon.

Steward Discusses Povetkin Backing Out Of Klitschko Fight

Hall of fame trainer and trainer of current WBO,IBF,IBO, and Ring heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Emanuel Steward had a few words on the pullout of Alexander Povetkin and a replacement fight with the next highest IBF available opponent Samuel Peter.


On Wladimir Klitschko’s recent switch in opponent from Alexander Povetkin to Sam Peter:

“Well I was kind of prepared for that. I have never believed that Povetkin was going to fight Wladimir, just not as bad as David Haye. So we were prepared and I told Wladimir to be prepared about two weeks ago that he might have to fight Sam Peter and also that they should contact him to see if he was available, because I had a feeling that this was going to happen.”




On whether he blames Teddy Atlas for Povetkin pulling out of the fight:

“Well he’s been consistent. From day one Teddy has never said that he thought his fighter was ready. If you read between the lines in all of the interviews that he did, he was always consistently just speaking in general like how you have to train a guy this way, you have to be prepared, people have to find themselves. He never did speak with any strong conviction that he felt that his fighter was ready. He feels that he needs more time. He was put in that position because the fighter was already in the mandatory position when he became involved with him. If he hadn’t been, he probably would have never pushed for him to be in that position. So he did what he thought was best and I respect it and I respect the fact that the IBF is going along with that. After two years he has shown no real desire to step up and take advantage of his position. They have decided to move on.

So everything is sorting itself out so to say, and you can’t make a guy fight that doesn’t want to fight and it’s very difficult to promote a fight when you have one guy who’s prepared and another guy who really seems sort of reluctant to participate and promote it and everything else. We have to move on to Sam Peter and I think it’s going to be an interesting fight because Sam didn’t look that great in some of his fights after the first fight with Wladimir. But his last fight, which I think was in Texas when I was down there doing the HBO broadcast, everyone said he looked fantastic just due to the fact his weight is down. Maybe with a different trainer, I think he’s working now in Big Bear and having a whole different attitude about everything. Just the fact that his weight is down you know he’s taking it more seriously. That’s one of the complaints always was his conditioning. And he is a puncher so nevertheless, we’re not going to be relaxed. The first fight had enough drama to last me a lifetime with Wladimir down three times and then in the twelfth round Sam Peter was out on his feet. So we’re not going to take the fight lightly because he is a puncher. We figure Peter to be a much more dangerous puncher than Povetkin.”

On what he believes will be the major difference in the rematch between Wladimir Klitschko and Sam Peter:

“That was the breakthrough fight for Wladimir Klitschko. That was the fight after he had been stopped twice and he had a fight with DaVarryl Williamson where he looked not that impressive. He went down in that fight even though he won a technical decision because of a cut. His brother had like given up hope on him and most of the people in his camp, and it was just he and I for the most part. That was apparent for the Sam Peter fight. It was a fight where, for the first time, he actually barred his brother from coming to a training camp. They had been training together all of their careers. It was because of the lack of confidence and the negative vibes that everyone had going into that fight.

He could have chosen an easier fight, but he ask who was the best fighter out there that could give him credibility back after being stopped by Brewster and barely getting by with DaVarryl Williamson and having been stopped by Sanders. I said “Well the most dangerous guy is Sam Peter”. So that’s what he wanted. That was the make or break fight that he said would put his career back on track or he could have picked a safe bout. So going down two times in the fight early, which they weren’t really clean knockdowns, but I looked at the expression on his face and it was like psychologically he wasn’t hurt but he was just totally confused and disappointed in himself. When he came back at the end of the round he was surprised by how cool I was, because I saw he wasn’t hurt. So I spoke to him very carefully and told him he was boxing at a distance where he could get caught with those clubbing punches and that he needed to be all the way back or if he got in too close to just tie him up and never allow him at that halfway distance where he could get clubbed. He said, “Okay” and if you watch the fight, before the bell rang for the next round after he had been down twice, he was the one in the center of the ring waiting on Sam Peter.

That was psychologically a tough fight for him. The last knockdown, I think was the tenth round, which we both consider was a true knockdown but he came back and had Sam out on his feet in the twelfth round so that was like the turning point in his entire boxing career in that fight. Since then I think he’s progressed tremendously and gone to another level to become one of the probably most respected and maybe on his way to becoming one of the top fighters in heavyweight history. Meanwhile Sam has been going back and forth and probably aside from his last fight hasn’t been that impressive. So it’s going to be interesting to see what happens because we still don’t know what the psychological affect will be on Wladimir. Whether this time he wants to go out and prove that he’s the best heavyweight, and this is a good chance for him to fight a guy who just recently fought the other heavyweight that everybody considers maybe the best which is a guy named Vitali Klitschko.

This will be a very good comparison point for the public to judge between the two heavyweight champions and the two brothers. For that reason, I think Wladimir is going to try and put on a very impressive performance and I don’t know if Sam’s going to be able to hold him off if Wladimir comes in with that attitude. Wladimir is one of the most devastating one-punch boxers in heavyweight history. He’s not the type of guy who wears you down. He can turn out the lights with one single punch. Sam Peter said he’s going to pick up where he left off, that’s what Wladimir told me—where he left off the last fight by knocking him down. I said, “Well Wladimir, you have to pick up where the fight actually finished up in the twelfth round where you almost had him out with the left hook”. It will be I think an explosive fight because of the emotions with Wladimir trying to prove something and Sam realizing this is his big shot right now. It’s going to be an interesting fight between punchers for a change.”

His thoughts on Sam Peter’s comments from earlier in the show when Peter had words for Wladimir stating, “Be ready because it’s going to be a short night”:

“I think it will but I think he’ll be on the short end of it, but that really means that he has tremendous confidence in himself now and I think that’s good.”

Klitschko Povetkin OFF

Looks like the September 11th IBF heavyweight mandatory fight between current IBF, IBO, WBO, and Ring champion Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin is officially off. The IBF has confirmed this and Povetkin will be removed from the IBF top ten and has stated that Wladimir will now face the top available opponent on September 11 in Frankfurt, which is expected to be Sam Peter. They are in negotiations as we speak. Stay tuned for more information.

Bernd Bonte Quotes

* Klitschko's manager

“We’ve started negotiations with Top Rank for Sam Peter as the next available opponent for the mandatory."

Haye Talks About Injury

For the 1st time since he pulled out of his heavyweight championship match with current champion Wladimir Klitschko, David Haye talks about the injury that kept him from living his dream and future plans. Here is a live video interview at a London press conference where he talks about why he pulled out:

Tags: Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Fight Cancellations, Videos, Klitschko Opponent Interviews, Klitschko Opponent Videos, Klitschko Blog

Haye Says Sorry About Cancellation

Haye has recently apologized to his fans for not being able to make it for June 20th to face current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

"I'm sorry to disappoint all my fans across the world and I hope that once I have had the sufficient treatment, I will be able to start training again and we can get the fight on as soon as possible. I know this is the fight the fans want and I will do everything to make sure it happens."

The CEO of Golden Boy promotions Richard Schaefer, had the following to say on the cancellation:

"We are disappointed that David will be unable to fight for the World Heavyweight Championship on June 20th, but we want to make sure that he is in top condition when he fights Wladimir. We hope David makes a fast recovery and we can reschedule the fight as soon as possible."


Source

Technorati Tags: Fight Cancellations, Wladimir Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Quotes, Klitschko Blog

Booth Says Haye Injured His Back

It's been verified at least by David Haye's manager Adam Booth that David Haye had injured his back during training for his fight June 20th with Wladimir Klitshcko. He hopes that Klitschko's camp will postpone the fight rather than cancel it. Here's what Booth had to say:

“We’re heading back to the UK for some aggressive physiotherapy. It looks like there will be only a three week delay from the original fight date with respect to David’s readiness, which hopefully means that Wladimir will only postpone the fight, rather than cancel it.”


Source

Technorati Tags: Quotes, Fight Cancellations, Other Boxing News, Other Heavyweight Boxing News, Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Klitschko Blog

Klitschko vs. Chagaev?

It looks like since David Haye pulled out of his fight for June 20th against current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Klitschko's camp is now looking for another opponent and topping that list is WBA "champion in recess" Ruslan Chagaev who himself had to pull out of a rematch title fight with Nicolai Valuev due to not passing his pre-fight medical. Wladimir said something to the effect of getting vaccinated and that not being a problem, but not sure exactly. It was casually mentioned at the end of the video I posted on here. Strange...

If Klitschko vs. Chagaev takes place this would make a good substitution for the fans expecting David Haye on the 20th, plus it will also be for the RING heavyweight title, which will give Wladimir another belt. It also might make negotiations for a match with Valuev in the future easier.

If for some reason Haye still gets to fight they might be ready by July 11th but there are no guarantees whats going to happen. It's up to Wladimir's side whether they feel like waiting another 3 weeks to fight since they already had to wait so long already.

Here's a Setanta Sports video where Bunce talks to Bernd Boente, the manager of Wladmir Klitschko:

Technorati Tags: Wladimir Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Potential Fights, Fight Cancellations, Videos, Wladimir Klitschko Videos, Klitschko Blog

Klitschko Haye Is Off!!

It's no joke. The June 20th fight between current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye is off due to a hand injury(ok this is not 100% proven and it has not been verified. It's just what most likely happened. Other reports say he hurt his back) Haye sustained while training. It is reported that Haye will need 6 to 8 weeks for the recovery of his hand. Will this mean someone else might step up to the plate to save the June 20th sell-out crowd at Schalke stadium in Germany? Well the Valuev vs. Chageav championship rematch just got canceled. May I suggest a fight that should take place and the fans would love, but will not happen-- Wladimir Klitschko vs. Nicolai Valuev. Stay tuned for more information!

Technorati Tags: Fight Cancellations, Wladimir Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Klitschko Blog

Valuev vs Chagaev Cancelled!

The WBA heavyweight championship bout scheduled for tomorrow night between "champion in recess" Ruslan Chagaev and champion Nicolai Valuev has been canceled due to Chagaev failing the standard pre-fight medical. There is speculation on what it could have been (Hepatits), but nothing is for certain as far as i have seen. Hopefully this will be a good opportunity for Vitali Klitschko to get that last belt in the Klitschko name.

Here's a video where the guys from Setanta Sports talk about the WBA and the cancellation of the fight: