Wladimir Klitschko says ego won't let Tyson Fury win
Friday 27 November 2015 10:32, UK
Wladimir Klitschko says his ego will not allow Tyson Fury a sniff of victory on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday night.
The triple world champion has been a model of measured calm in the build-up to this weekend's huge heavyweight title fight, even in the face of Fury's at-times eccentric antics.
But with just 48 hours to go until the two rivals step between the ropes in Dusseldorf, Klitschko let slip a side to his character far removed from the detached professionalism Fury has regularly labelled boring during weeks of pre-fight verbals.
"This probably sounds selfish, but I have a very big ego," he said. "It's not about somebody else - it is about my own satisfaction and my own ego that needs to be satisfied.
"My ego is big and it gives me the motivation. My ego says I have been champion for a long time.
"I think that's the core of any successful person - ego. We could talk about it negatively as someone being egotistical, like fear, and fear is also negative.
"But fear is also healthy because fear makes you alert, aware, punctual, being in the right place in the right time. It makes you fast, it makes you alive.
"So I wouldn't say to put ego in a negative box. I think it's controlled ego - it's big and that's probably the core of your motivation."
Asked if his ego would force him to keep fighting if he lost against Fury, Klitschko said: "There's no 'if'. I know this game well - there is no 'if'.
"The person who can beat me is myself. If I'm 100 per cent focused, then the only person who can beat me is myself. I would have to allow someone to beat me, but I won't allow that because my ego is my protection. I can only lose to myself."
Wladimir Klitschko vs Tyson Fury, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office on November 28, is now available to order via your Sky remote and online.
