Klitschko brands Haye v Chisora fight a freak show
British boxing was thrown into chaos yesterday after it was confirmed that David Haye and Dereck Chisora will be allowed to profit from February’s disgraceful press conference brawl by facing up in the ring this summer.
The shamed heavyweights will meet at Upton Park on July 14 in an event labelled a ‘freak show’ by world champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Neither of the British heavyweight fighters – who hit the headlines for their conduct at the press conference after Chisora’s WBC heavyweight title challenge against Vitali Klitschko
in Munich on February 18 – hold a current British Boxing Board of Control licence.
Chisora’s licence was withdrawn in March following his involvement in a number of controversial incidents before and after the Olympiahalle fight.
Haye, meanwhile, relinquished his licence when he officially retired last October – three months after losing his WBA title to Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg.
However, promoter Frank Warren has exploited European Union trade laws to secure licences from the Luxembourg Boxing Federation to stage the bout in the UK, after the British Boxing Board of Control decided in March to withdraw Chisora’s licence ‘indefinitely’ after he and Haye brawled at a press conference in Munich.
Wladimir Klitschko, the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO world champion, told BBC 5 Live: ‘It’s a freak show under freak rules, a spit in the face of the British Board.
‘To get a licence for Chisora is disgraceful. How can you have such an event featuring a man who has shown his behaviour to the world, especially considering what he did at the press conference?’
BBBC general secretary Robert Smith said he was ‘disappointed’ with the development. The board will meet on Wednesday to discuss Warren’s announcement and its implications.
While it is not illegal for a European country’s boxing federation to promote events in another European nation, the move will reduce the BBBC’s influence and questions have been raised about the ethics of this fight.
