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World heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko has pulled out of his scheduled December 10 title defense against former cruiserweight champion Jean Marc Mormeck of France, according to the Telegraph:
Klitschko, the WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion has failed to recover in time for the bout in Dusseldorf after undergoing an operation at the weekend to remove a kidney stone.
The Ukrainian, 35, initially hoped he would have recovered in time but has now been advised to pull out.
Klitschko (56-3, 49 KO) was sent to the hospital with abdominal problems earlier this week, and the champ was initially expected to recover in time for his defense against Mormeck (36-4 ,22 KO).
Frankly, the world hasn't lost a lot with the absence of this fight, which was dismissed by avid boxing fans as a sham, as Mormeck has struggled to secure hometown wins over the likes of Timur Ibragimov, Fres Oquendo and Vinny Maddalone since hitting the heavyweight class in December 2009.
In other words, this fight is no great loss. Klitschko vs Mormeck was seen as an obscene mismatch by most of us anyway. Hopefully Wladimir will get his health sorted and not entertain another fight this bad.