Ex-world champion Vladimir Klitschko says he has 'suffered like a dog' since losing to Tyson Fury, but has vowed to humble the controversial British heavyweight in next month's rematch.
Klitschko lost his IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO belts after Fury's unanimous points win last November in Dusseldorf as the Ukrainian suffered his first defeat in more than a decade after a poor display.
“I've suffered like a dog,” Hamburg-based Klitschko told German magazine Stern, who admitted thinking immediately after his defeat, “that's fair. He was better”.
The pair will meet again in Manchester on July 9 and Klitschko wants revenge.
“I'm going to win,” said the 40-year-old.
“I'm going to bash his face in for all his anti-semitic, sexist and homophobic comments, which he regularly likes to come out with.”
While Klitschko is preparing in Austria, Fury is training hard in the Dutch town of Steenbergen to lose the three stones (19 kilos) he put on after beating Klitschko.
The British fighter has promised to beat Klitschko “in every department”, but has become an unpopular champion after making some poorly-judged comments.
Manchester-born Fury had to apologise last month for making anti-semitic remarks, made sexist comments about British athletics star Jessica Ennis-Hill last December and has repeatedly expressed homophobic and anti-abortion views.
Klitschko was the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world from 2008 until losing to the 27-year-old Fury, and had secured 22 consecutive victories since his last defeat in 2004, which often led to him being portrayed as a boring champion.
He compared his previous success to football team Bayern Munich, who have just become the first club to win the German league tile four times in a row.
“Continuous success is always boring. It is unsatisfying for the public. It's like Bayern Munich,” he said.
“But what is the option? To lose? Or to be the subject of scandal? I wouldn't want either.” – AFP