Harrison thinks Chisora will struggle with Wladimir’s offense

By William Mackay: Former Olympic Gold Medalist and European Boxing Union (EBU] heavyweight champion Audley Harrison (27-4, 20 KO’s) thinks Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) will have problems with IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko’s offense when they meet up in December. Speaking with Sky Sports Ringside, Harrison said I think his [Wladimir] offense is so good. These guys can’t go past his offense with his jab, timing and distance. These guys don’t know enough to close him down. I think that’s where Dereck Chisora is going to struggle.”

It isn’t just that fighters don’t know how to get in punching range to land their own shots, it’s also because Wladimir tends to either move away or tie them up in a clinch to prevent them from doing anything. With his trainer Emanuel Steward, Klitschko is basically doing a lot of the same things that Lennox Lewis used to do when fighting shorter guys. Lewis was called a boring fighter a lot of the times because he would tie his opponents up when they got close, but it was effective and allowed him to hold down a heavyweight title until he was 38. Wladimir is doing the same thing and it’s angering boxing fans and fighters, who want him to mix it up more.

Wladimir had this to say about Chisora: “He’s a talker. Compared to David Haye, he stepped up and signed the contract. We still fought yet, but he signed the contract. I understand he’s [Chisora] so self confident and wants to win this fight. Chisora impressed me with his wins. He’s an active boxer. He has 14 fights and he has pretty good punching power. He’s fast. I think for boxing fans, this is going to be a really exciting fight to watch. I will not underestimate this man. I chose him because I think it’s going to be really interesting for boxing fans around the world, not just in Great Britain. I believe I’ll give him a lot of experience in the ring for him.”

It sounds like Wladimir is going to go back to his old slugging style that he used to use before he started training with Steward for this fight. Wladimir doesn’t have nearly as much to worry about in this fight than he typically does because Chisora isn’t a big puncher and he tends to throw wide shots and leave a lot of openings to hit him.

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