By Dave Lahr: Unbeaten heavyweight Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) got a huge gift earlier today when he learned that IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) had decided not to fight WBA heavyweight champion David Haye next and had instead decided to fight him. Chisora, 26, was supposed to have fought Wladimir last month in December, but Wladimir suffered an injury to an abdominal muscle making it necessary for him to pull out of the Chisora fight.

There were rumors floating around at the time that Wladimir had suddenly had second thoughts about the Chisora fight after seeing how good the British heavyweight looked during training workouts. Few people thought that Wladimir would ever go back and fight Chisora. They figured that Wladimir would just decide to get the big payday against Haye and likely lose that fight by knockout.

Once Wladimir had been beaten by Haye, he would have been scrambling around trying to re-capture the belt or wait until his big brother WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko did the dirty work for him by beating Haye and then vacating the belt so that Wladimir could fight for it against Haye or some of the lesser talent in the heavyweight division.

Chisora had this to say about getting a second shot at Wladimir: “This news is a fantastic late Christmas present. I always believed that I would fight Klitschko, and my faith has been repaid. I was a bit worried that he might try to fight an easier touch, but I think I’ve earned my opportunity. I was gutted when Wladimir pulled out of our fight just a couple of days beforehand. But now I’ve got another chance to take his titles away. He’s a great world champion, but his time at the top is well and truly up. My promoter Frank Warren has done a great job in getting me this opportunity because there was no guarantee Wladimir would fight me again after he got injured.”

Chisora is one of the best heavyweight talents in the division and truly a diamond in the rough. For most American boxing fans, they’ve seen little of him and because of that they don’t give him much of a chance at beating Wladimir. I’ve seen enough of Chisora’s fights to know that he can not only beat Wladimir, but beat him convincingly by knockout. Chisora hits hard, has great head movement, excellent defense and is a pressure fighter in the same mode as former Klitschko conqueror Ross Puritty. Wladimir is going to be in trouble in this fight and I believe that Chisora is going to take away any chance of a Wladimir vs. Haye fight in the future. Haye may fight Vitali Klitschko, but I don’t see him fighting Wladimir after Chisora beats him.