Wladimir Klitschko Cancels Fight with Dereck Chisora

For the second time in five months, Wladimir Klitschko has pulled out of a fight with Dereck Chisora, and this time has set no timetable for his return. From Sky Sports:

Medical tests showed that Klitschko had not fully recovered from the injury he had sustained in training and the April date was too soon for a fight.

"As things stand now it is difficult to predict when he will have fully recovered. A fight in April with all the intensive preparation he needs is too big a risk," said Klitschko's doctor, Hans-Wilhelm Mueller-Wohlfahrt.

What this really sounds like, and Sky suspect the same thing, is that Klitschko is looking once again to land a major money fight with David Haye. Talks reopened this week, "coincidentally," and now Klitschko isn't healthy enough to fight on April 30.

Given that it seems highly likely that is indeed the case, it's a really bum deal for Chisora. Nobody gave him any legitimate shot to beat the far more experienced and far better Klitschko, but Chisora had the guts to take the fight, and when given time to re-examine whether or not it was a good idea, he signed up for it a second time. Chisora is probably not a favorite for too many out there, but he at least was exhibiting the brass to fight Wladimir, which is a lot more than can be said for the better-regarded Alexander Povetkin and a great many other heavyweight pretenders.

But as much as it stinks for Chisora, who has now sacrificed months of a budding career when he could have been fighting at the British or Euro level and continuing to improve, if this winds up with the Klitschko-Haye fight actually coming off finally, you have to say that it's worth it. It's the only fight in the heavyweight division that truly matters, for my money, with all due respect to Tomasz Adamek.

The best case scenario here is we finally get Klitschko-Haye, and Chisora moves on with his life and finds someone to fight soon. He needs to get back in the ring.