BOXING 101

Both David Haye and Dereck Chisora issued official statements yesterday regarding their respective roles in the brawl that broke out between them on Saturday night at the post-fight press conference following the Vitali Klitschko vs. Chisora WBC Heavyweight Championship in Munich. The carefully crafted statements are not expected to garner either fighter much sympathy from the boxing community.

Chisora, who was arrested and questioned by German police following the incident and subsequently released without being charged at this time, is no stranger to the legal spotlight. In November 2010, he was found guilty in the United Kingdom of assaulting his girlfriend but was granted a two-year suspension of his prison sentence.

Chisora was also involved with an incident inside of the ring when he bit the ear of opponent Paul Butlin during a fight in May 2009. This resulted in Chisora's four-month ban from boxing and a £2,500 fine. Butlin believes harsher punishment is required this time around in light of Chisora's latest actions. In an exclusive report by Ben Hunt of The Sun, Butlin said:

" They have to ban him for a couple of years at least.

"They banned him for four months for biting me and his behavior keeps getting worse. He hasn't learned his lesson and they can't let him off lightly again.

" He never apologized for biting my ear, then went in the papers saying he did it because he was bored and if we boxed again he would bite my ear off."

Given Chisora's history of problems, a lifetime ban and some professional assistance to help him with his anger issues would be appropriate. A hearing in front of the British Boxing Board of Control is scheduled for March 14, 2012 where Chisora will be faced with a misconduct charge regarding his behavior prior, during and after the Klitschko fight. The WBC will likely impose their own penalty pending the outcome of this hearing and the investigation by the German authorities.

In his official statement, Chisora claims that "behind the scenes" issues caused his frustrations to "boil over". The place to take out any frustrations he may have been having was in the ring using the skills and tools at his disposal to win a heavyweight championship. It is unfortunate that his generally good performance against Klitschko will forever be overshadowed by this ugly incident with Haye.

Haye's official statement does not include an outright apology but rather an explanation of the events from his perspective. He admits his involvement in "professional trash-talk to help raise boxing's profile".

Haye is currently officially retired from boxing and, thus, should consider retirement from trash-talking as well.

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