By Dave Lahr: IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) broke down under the strain of training for his fight against unbeaten Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) last December, suffering an abdominal injury that required for their fight to be called off. While injuries are things that can happen at any time or place, they also occur when a fighter is experiencing a lot of stress and over-training out of fear and worry. I think this was the case with Wladmir.

In the weeks leading up to the Chisora fight, Wladimir looked incredibly stressed out as the fight approached. In the final week before the fight, Wladimir looked like a man going to the gallows. He wasn’t smiling, looked unhappy and worried about the fight. It’s pretty clear that Chisora had gotten into Wladimir’s head during their press conferences together and there’s talk that Wladimri was worried about how good Chisora was looking.

Some boxing fans think Wladimir faked his injury to get out of the Chisora fight so that Wladimir could take on Haye. I don’t buy that for a second. I just think that Wladimir was worried, stressed out and over-compensated for his worry by taking his training to a much higher level than his 34-year-old body could take. It’s a natural response for fighters to overdo things when they’re nervous. Heck, look at all the guys that have been facing Manny Pacquiao recently.

Half the time, they either starve themselves or overdo their training and leave their best performance in the training camp and come out looking emaciated to face Pacquiao. I think this is what happened with Wladimir, and I have a feeling he might do it again. Chisora has got him worried like no other fighter before him, except maybe Corrie Sanders.