By Dave Lahr: He may not realize it yet, but IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko (55-3, 49 KO’s) is going to have to go through a major revamp up his entire game from top to bottom if he plans on beating undefeated British heavyweight Dereck Chisora (14-0, 9 KO’s) on April 30th at the SAP-Arena, in Mannheim, Germany. All the things that were taught to him by his trainer Emanuel Steward, will have to be thrown out by Wladimir if he wants to escape with his titles still in his possession.

The major problem for Wladimir is that he’s become completely reliant on his ability to clinch his shorter opponents when they come inside on him looking to throw. Up until now, Wladimir hasn’t had to learn how to fight on the inside because he’s been able to simply snatch his opponents when they get in close, hold onto them and do a lot of leaning to tire them out. It’s a major statement of how poorly trained Klitschko’s opposition has been that none of them have been clever enough to realize that they can still punch when being tied up.

Chisora isn’t one of Klitschko’s poorly trained opponents. He doesn’t let his opposition take breathers, and he doesn’t allow them to tie him up to escape punishment. Wladimir is in big trouble for this fight, because he doesn’t have a whole heck of a lot of time to learn how to not clinch. Right now, his clinching style of fighting is totally ingrained to the point where it’s an automatic reflex for Wladimir. You could see Steward literally begging Wladimir in between rounds in his second fight with Samuel Peter last year not to clinch, yet Wladimir completely ignored or was unable to follow Steward’s instructions when he came out for the next round.

Chisora isn’t going to let Wladimir just hold on and smother him on the inside. Chisora is going to keep throwing with both hands and is going to be tagging Wladimir on the sides, back and whatever part of Wladimir’s head is exposed while the big Ukrainian is holding on. And with Chisora’s fast inside move, he’s not going to be hanging around on the outside eating jabs and right hands all night long. He’s going to be on Wladimir quickly, pounding him on the inside. And of course, Wladimir will do what he always does by clinching. This will make things even easier for Chisora because he’s going to take Wladimir apart while being held. I don’t see this fight going well for Wladimir. His past training is going to be his downfall in this fight. It’s like Wladimir has been trained for a different kind of fighter his entire career and now he’s facing a whole different animal altogether. Wladimir doesn’t have enough time to adapt his style by April 30th.