Alexander Povetkin enlists help of Dereck Chisora for Wladimir Klitschko fight

[Mofo2]

LONDON heavyweight Dereck Chisora might get closer to the action than even he thought in Moscow this weekend.

The controversial Finchley star has been asked by Russian heavyweight Alexander Povetkin to supervise the bandaging of the hands of heavyweight king Wladimir Klitschko.

Povetkin's mind games come on the back of several Klitschko-Chisora flashpoints. Dereck slapped older brother Vitali last year, spat water in the face of Wladimir and he was rumoured to be involved in a nightclub scuffle with the latter in the summer.

But Bernd Boente, the Klitschkos adviser, says Chisora could run the risk of missing out on another Klitschko date if he helps the Russian.

"If things like that on Saturday night do happen then he is out of the mix from our side," said Boente. "It shows you how they really think because it’s not about a boxing fight or a sport. It seems to me they want to make a war of this fight, which I think is ridiculous."

"It’s a strange thing because he doesn’t belong to the Povetkin team and it’s usually a member of the team who does it."

Chisora's promoter Frank Warren wants his fighter to earn a top-ranking with one of the governing bodies so he has to force himself into the path of the brothers as a mandatory challenger. But to keep the pot boiling, he has given Chisora his blessing to watch Wladimir's hands get wrapped.

"What's good for the goose if good for the gander," he said, referring to how Vitali supervises Wladimir's opponents having their hands taped.

Boente said perspective opponents for Klitschko, should he win, include Denis Boystov, Deontay Wilder, Kubrat Pulev and the victor of the rescheduled David Haye-Tyson Fury fight, saying Chisora's behaviour has hampered his chances of another date with the brothers.

"We definitely don’t give anybody a chance for just being an idiot," he said. "By slapping Vitali, spitting in Wladimir’s face, then getting in fights… Not on our side."