By William Mackay: Despite the beginnings of talks between IBF/WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye for a bout that will be taking place in July, Wladimir is still slated to be facing unbeaten British heavyweight Dereck Chisora on April 30th at the SAP-Arena, Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. This is a tune-up bout that Wladimir has insisted on to help get ready for the Haye fight.

The fact that an established fighter like Wladimir feels he needs a tune-up doesn’t sit right with Haye, who feels that Wladimir doesn’t need a tune-up in order to fight him. Haye questions Wladimir’s confidence in facing him and that’s why he thinks that Wladimir has decided on fighting the #9 ranked WBO contender Chisora. Haye sees the Wladimir-Chisora fight as being a one-sided affair with Wladimir giving Chisora a beating, according to Sky. Haye is probably right. Chisora is totally unproven, short at 6’1″, not particularly fast or powerful. Chisora is a good heavyweight in many departments, but he’s not great in any one department.

The chances are pretty high that Chisora is going to get pulverized by Wladimir in April, and there isn’t anything in Chisora’s past fights that would suggest that he’ll be able to pull off an upset. Chisora struggled in his last fight with Sam Sexton before stopping him in the 9th. Wladimir would easily beat a fighter like Sexton without any troubles. The gulf in talent between Chisora and Wladimir is pretty vast to say the least.

Chisora doesn’t see a fight between Haye and Wladimir taking place in July, because he believes he’s going to beat Wladimir on April 30th. That may be hard to do if Wladimir decides to cancel the fight and go ahead with the Haye bout. There is talk of Wladimir doing that very thing and leaving Chisora hanging for a second time. The only thing that will prevent that from happening is Wladimir’s worry about needing a tune-up before facing Haye. He appears to be concerned about facing Haye without some kind of tune-up fight, even though Chisora’s fighting style, hand speed and power is nothing like that of Haye. In the end, the tune-up might be just a waste of time for Wladimir because Haye is going to be dangerous for him no matter who he fights in a tune-up bout. Haye hits hard and Wladimir has a weak chin. Bad things are going to happen if Haye lands, and he probably will at some point.