Vitali Klitschko is suggesting that the 12-year age gap between him and WBC heavyweight title challenger Dereck Chisora could cause the Ukrainian champion problems in their title bout Saturday.
Klitschko, 40, is the bookmakers' overwhelming favorite to defend the title in Munich, despite being the oldest man after George Foreman ever to hold a world heavyweight title.
“Everybody wants to see a new name rise up to a new challenge, where in any moment that someone from a younger generation who has good skills, who is very motivated and who doesn't have fear can make a serious charge,” Klitschko was quoted as saying in the boxing media this week.
“In my personal opinion, Dereck Chisora is a big challenge for me. This fight will be not easy."
British challenger Chisora has repeatedly said he is too “wild and unpredictable” for Klitschko, and has confidently predicted an eighth-round knockout of the Ukrainian.
Chisora has dismissed claims, however, that Klitschko, who has 43 wins and two defeats in 45 career fights, is too old to defend the title. “Age ain't nothing to Vitali,” he told the Guardian this week.
The Zimbabwean-born Londonder, who models his cocky persona on British sitcom character Del Boy - a market trader from the gritty East End of London with delusions of grandeur - has engaged in a series of stunts in the run-up to the fight, seemingly trying to unsettle Klitschko.
In recent days, Chisora has hinted that he is bisexual, argued with the promoters about his choice of entry music, and threatened to set his dog, a Chihuahua named Killer, on Klitschko.
The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, have held all the world heavyweight titles between them since Wladimir defeated Britain’s David Haye for the WBA belt in July 2011.
Both fighters live in Germany, and usually fight there because of a strong local fan base, although Vitali Klitschko has a second career as a politician in his native Ukraine.
Chisora has 15 wins in 17 fights but two defeats in his last three, including a controversial defeat on points to Finnish fighter Robert Helenius in December, after which Chisora claimed he suffered racist taunting from the crowd.
