By Dave Lahr: Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) has been given a golden opportunity in his title fight against IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) and he expects to make the most of it on Saturday, December 11th at the SAP-Arena, Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Chisora, a high pressure fighter with superb defensive skills, says he’s going to “Take Klitschko out of his comfort zone” in their fight. In other words, Chisora is going to apply constant pressure, force Klitschko to fight harder than he’s accustomed and not allow him to tie up on the inside with his constant clinches.

Chisora is going to set a high pace from the outset, and duck under Wladimir’s badly aimed punches and batter him when he attempts to drape himself on Chisora to get a rest break. This is actually a fight that Wladimir needs a lot more training for than he realizes. Chisora is a nightmare opponent for Wladimir, because he has the tools to exploit all of the Ukrainian’s biggest weaknesses, starting with his questionable stamina.

Wladimir can’t take a fast pace fight, and he needs constant clinches to keep his shorter opponents from landing their shots. If he’s forced to fight hard and take punishment, Wladimir folds up like a cheap suit. If you don’t believe me, take a look at his fights with Ross Puritty and Lamon Brewster. In both cases, Klitschko was forced to fight harder than he wanted to and he couldn’t handle it when Brewster and Puritty finally started landing some shots. They didn’t even land more than a few good punches in the fight before Wladimir was flopping around like a fish out of water.

Wladimir can’t take punishment worth a darn and he needs these clinching rest breaks to both replenish energy and to keep from getting hit. The key for Chisora is to take away the rest breaks, and pounds Wladimir at every opportunity when the big Ukrainian tries to clinch. Chisora cannot let him clinch and must tag him with shots while Wladimir is holding on. That’s how you take Wladimir out of his comfort zone. If Chisora does this, I see Wladimir flopping around like a big goldfish gasping for air and looking physically sick.