BY CIARAN FAHEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ADVERTISING MUNICH — Chaos broke out after Vitali Klitschko unanimously outpointed Dereck Chisora to retain his WBC heavyweight belt Saturday night when Chisora got into a brawl with former WBA champion David Haye
BY CIARAN FAHEY | THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
MUNICH — Chaos broke out after Vitali Klitschko unanimously outpointed Dereck Chisora to retain his WBC heavyweight belt Saturday night when Chisora got into a brawl with former WBA champion David Haye at the post-match news conference.
Haye called for a fight between the two British boxers, leading to a heated exchange before Chisora descended to face Haye and they came to blows.
Camera equipment went flying and reporters fled before security eventually managed to separate the men and police arrived at the scene.
“You’ve really lost it this time,” Chisora told Haye.
Klitschko beat Chisora in a bruising encounter in which the Ukrainian claimed to have fought from the fourth round with only his right fist after hurting his left hand.
“I think we all heard excuses about a broken toe,” Chisora later retorted, referring to Haye’s loss to Klitschko’s younger brother, Wladimir, for the WBA belt in Germany last July.
Wladimir is the “super” WBA champion and also holds the IBF and minor WBO and IBO belts.
Chisora found little support from the sellout crowd of 12,500 after slapping Vitali Klitschko’s face at the weigh-in on Friday, and ensured the ill feelings continued when he spat in the 40-year-old’s face as the champion’s record was being called out before their bout.
“I wanted to knock him out, to be honest,” Klitschko said. “Such a cheek.”
Wladimir acted as a buffer as Chisora continued to goad his older brother.
Vitali was clearly incensed, but it took some time before he could assert control against the Briton’s aggressive approach. The champion’s greater reach and experience made the difference.
The judges scored it 118-110, 118-110 and 119-111.
Chisora said after the bout he wanted a rematch, or a bout with Wladimir.
“He won’t fight me again. I don’t blame you. I wouldn’t fight me either,” Chisora said.
Klitschko improved to 44-2 (40 KOs) with the 10th successful defense of the title he won from Corrie Sanders in 2004.
It was arguably the toughest bout he’s had to endure since losing on a technical knockout to Lennox Lewis in 2003.
“I’m not proud of my performance tonight because I feel I let my fans down,” Klitschko said.
The Zimbabwe-born Chisora dropped to 15-3 (nine KOs) after his third loss in his last four fights, but he had the fans in Munich’s Olympiahalle worried as Klitschko appeared to tire from his relentless attacks.
Sensing an upset, they chanted the Ukrainian’s name in the seventh round before Klitschko reasserted his dominance with a series of precision blows.
Chisora was bleeding from the lip after the first round, but seemed more than capable of taking Klitschko’s repeated punishment.
Klitschko eventually took control of the bout in the ninth round, catching Chisora with a huge right and seemingly picking his punches at will. Chisora was barely hanging on in the 10th.
“He tried it all, but apart from a few grazes I didn’t get anything more,” Klitschko said.
Chisora gave it everything he had in the 12th and final round as he sought a knockout blow, but Klitschko, knowing the work was already done, used his greater experience to safely see out the round, and maintain he and his brother’s dominance of the heavyweight division.
“I wanted to give him what he deserves. It didn’t work out,” Klitschko said. “Life is an interesting thing. Life is long. Who knows? Maybe we’ll meet some other day.”
