By Johnny Walker
Perhaps world heavyweight boxing champion Wladimir Klitschko should forget about trying to schedule fights in December.
One year ago, Klitschko was forced to cancel a title clash with the UK’s Dereck ‘Del Boy’ Chisora when he injured a stomach muscle a few days prior to the event.
And now comes the news that Klitschko’s title defense against Frenchman Jean-Marc Mormeck–scheduled for December 10– is off, due to complications from surgery to remove kidney stones from the heavyweight champion over the weekend.
According to the Associated Press, Klitschko had left the hospital after the initial surgery in a Duesseldorf hospital on Saturday, but was forced to return on Sunday when he experienced more abdominal pain.
Klitschko is said to be pain-free now, but is weakened from two surgeries and rendered unable to fight. This means that Klitschko will have fought only once, against David Haye last July, in the calendar year of 2011.
Klitschko spokesman Bernd Boente told a press conference today that the fight with Mormeck could be rescheduled to March 3, 2012, subject to approval by the IBF. Mormeck is said to have agreed to the new date.
Many boxing fans, however, would probably be just as happy to see Wladimir move on, as the bout with Mormeck has been widely viewed as a mismatch and has attracted little interest, even among hard-core Klitschko fans.
One option for Klitschko would be to now face Dereck ‘Del Boy’ Chisora of the UK, who he cancelled on twice in the last year. Chisora is surely owed a fight with Wladimir, and the Brit’s stock is now on the rise after his tremendous showing against rising heavyweight star Robert Helenius last Saturday in Finland.
Chisora lost a split decision, but most objective observers had him winning the fight.
