Vitali badly injured his left shoulder in 5th round against Chisora, possible torn tendon

By Boxing News - 02/19/2012 - Comments

Image: Vitali badly injured his left shoulder in 5th round against Chisora, possible torn tendonBy Jim Dower: WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko completely dominated challenger Dereck Chisora for the first four rounds of the fight last Saturday night. However, from the 5th round on, Vitali stopped using his left hand and fought mostly with his right for the remainder of the bout.

According to German news publication Bild, Vitali badly injured his left shoulder in the 5th round, saying “I have no strength in my left arm.”

Vitali was able to beat Chisora with his right hand only, but it wasn’t easy and Vitali looked exhausted and weak by the end of the fight. He won by the scores of 118-110, 118-110 and 119-111. After the fight, Vitali went to the clinic Atos in Munich to have his shoulder examined with an MRI done on it. As of now, no surgery is required but it’s thought that Vitali injured a tendon in his shoulder.

Vitali’s trainer Fritz Sdunek told the Bild “Vitali’s left hand no longer worked as he wanted.”

Vitali previously tore up his left shoulder in his loss to Chris Byrd in April 2000, resulting in shoulder surgery for Vitali that kept him out of boxing for considerable amount of time.

Chisora seemed proud of his performance after the fight despite having been defeated. Unfortunately, the injury by Vitali will keep Chisora from getting the full credit he would have received had Vitali not been injured. But never the less, the fact remains that Vitali pretty dominated the entire fight using just his right hand after the 4th round and Chisora had no answers. He didn’t throw enough punches and missed with many of shots he did throw. He just didn’t have the talent to win, and his comments after the fight suggesting that he lost because lacked experience doesn’t give the true picture. It wasn’t about a lack of experience; it was about a lack of talent.

Experience won’t bring Chisora the talent to beat Vitali. He could beat him if the fight takes place in two or three years when the 40-year-old Vitali ages to the point where he’s no longer the fighter he once was. But right now, Chisora isn’t good enough as we saw last Saturday. Chisora and his promoter Frank Warren want a rematch with Vitali and/or a fight against Wladimir, but that’s not going to happen. Chisora needs to get some wins up his belt and it may take two to three more years before he gets another title shot given that this loss will likely knock Chisora out of the top 15 altogether.



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