By Mark Hepplestall: For the past 2 years Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) has been saying to the media that he wants a mega fight with Davis Haye (25-1, 23 KO’s), however time after time neither boxer gives in to their Super Heavyweight Egos, so the fight has never materialized. Fight after fight Wladimir has shown the world that he possesses a checklist of factors that must be met by all challengers, including fighting were the Champion wants, when the Champion wants and for how much money the champion is willing to offer. However this all changed when he met a man with as big an ego as Wladimir.

The latest of the negotiations have been met with Bernd Beonte saying “no point negotiating, you do your fight we will do ours.” This was followed by the revelation of the April fight against Derek Chisora. This is a fight that Wladimir wants as it gets him more exposure in the UK, it also gets him out of his contract with ATL so he can negotiate more money for any future fights. The only problem this poses for both Haye and Klitschko camps is that the date agreed with Sky Sports Box Office, which brings in the highest amount of money was for July 2nd and everybody can agree the two months between April 30th and July 2nd or basically 62 days is not enough time for Wladimir to train physically, mentally and tactically for the biggest bout of his professional career. Also there is the major point in the division were fights can turn in one moment by one punch that Wladimir could lose no matter how unlikely it is, he is not immortal and could suffer a shock defeat as many boxers do when looking ahead to other bouts.

Speaking to Sky Sports News, Booth said “It’s a shame. It’s an embarrassment for boxing that the unification fight isn’t going to happen now because David’s bent over backwards. We’ve conceded to every single ridiculous demand they made. From the start they said 50-50. David said fine, even though potentially we’re putting in the pot three or four times more than they’re putting into the pot because of pay-per-view Sky box office. David still said ‘lets get the fight done 50-50.’ They said the fight had to be on their German broadcaster even though our German broadcaster was prepared to pay more. We said fine. They said ‘we’re not coming to England for the fight.’ David said ‘fine, I’ll go to Germany.’ They said Wladimir has to be in the red corner. Wladimir has to come in second, Wladimir’s name has to be first on the poster and all these other ridiculous, egotistical things, and David said ‘fine, have it, just get him in the ring with me.’ Booth says “The last thing was [from Wladimir], here is the date we now have, we said yeah, Sky have approved the date, and they turn round and say ‘we’re now doing Chisora on April 30th.’ Wladimir should be ashamed of himself.”

It’s a real shame the fight is not happening again, but the Klitschko’s really have met their match with David Haye, they really cannot have it all their own way all the time. I believe the majority of their demands in negotiations are fine, yet I hate to see boxers overlook lesser opposition. Even though the Chisora fight hasn’t happened yet it looks to already have cost Wladimir the biggest fight of his career.