Chisora slaps Klitschko on eve of fight

Londoner Chisora shamefully assaulted an unsuspecting Klitschko as the two posed for traditional head-to-head photographs after their weigh-in in Munich yesterday.

Champion Klitschko, 40, did not retaliate as the two men were pulled apart. But the Ukrainian has vowed to punish the Briton at the Olympiahalle.

“I’ll be hitting him back, in the ring,” he warned.

“He’s not all there. Dereck is full of nervousness and I feel he is afraid, otherwise he would not have jumped back like he did.

“He hit me not like a boxer but like a woman, with an open hand. If he wants to fight properly, he must do that with his fists.”

Chisora, 28, is a rank outsider for the contest and attempted to get under the long-reigning champion’s skin.

After weighing in at 17 stone 3lbs, Chisora butted heads before slapping Klitschko’s face hard. The two men were pulled apart with a furious-looking Klitschko, who had weighed in three pounds heavier, left with a red mark on the left side of his face.

Chisora’s camp said they were unaware of the stunt beforehand, with trainer Don Charles even branding the slap “unacceptable”.

Asked whether it was premeditated, the trainer added: “I’m not Dereck Chisora. Like I said, it’s unacceptable.”

Promoter Francis Warren, representing his father Frank’s company, said: “We’re all scratching our heads about it to be honest. You always expect something from Dereck, he’s a character. But it’s usually something that winds people up or is a bit jovial.

“So for him to get physical and aggressive, unprovoked, is surprising. But at the end of the day I’m sure there’s method to his madness and we’ll find out if the madness has paid off.”

Warren added: “I was very surprised though. I wasn’t expecting it at all.

Chisora said: “I’m the underdog in this fight which is exactly how I like it because when I knock him out in the eighth round it will shock the world.”

“I know I’ve got to go in there and do a job on him.

“I’m in tip-top condition and the best shape I’ve been in in my entire career, so I’m confident I’m going to smash Mr Vitali Klitschko to bits.”