This is Klitschko's chance, say camp

Vitali Klitschko has less than two weeks to prepare himself for a shot at Lennox Lewis’ world titles but his team are confident he can deliver.

The Ukrainian was yesterday confirmed as the Briton’s next opponent, replacing Kirk Johnson in a fight organised for June 21 in Los Angeles.

Klitschko had been due to take on American Cedrick Boswell on the Staples Center undercard on that night but now steps up to fight for Lewis’ WBC and IBO belts after Johnson withdrew through injury.

It is a chance he is relishing after Lewis pulled out of a proposed meeting between the two in January, despite Klitschko being the WBC’s mandatory challenger.

Bernt Bonte, of Klitschko’s PR team, told BBC Radio Five Live: “He is very happy. This is his chance.

He has been trying to get this fight for a year. He is the official number one mandatory challenger. Both camps are really surprised that it is happening so soon but we are happy.

“He only has the same disadvantage that Lennox has. It is the same, they have both been training for different opponents. Vitali is very confident. He has always said Lennox is the best but he wants to prove he is better and can beat him. He knows it will be very tough but is confident he can win it.”

The WBC had refused to sanction the Lewis-Johnson fight in anger at Lewis’ decision not to take on Klitschko earlier this year. They will now be back on board for what will become his mandatory defence.

Klitschko will have been paid well to step up at such short notice but will undoubtedly have jumped at the chance to prove himself against Lewis.

Both he and brother Wladimir have held the WBO title but despite their vociferous campaigns they have so far been unable to secure major heavyweight fights because of their lack of marketability.

Wladimir ruled himself out of the equation for the immediate future after suffering a shocking four-minute loss to South African veteran Corrie Sanders in March.

Wladimir was widely regarded to be the most promising of the two and as such his loss rather unfairly reflected badly upon his older brother.

The 6ft 7in, 31-year-old Vitali has won 30 of his 32 fights by stoppage and the only blot on his record is a WBO title defeat to Chris Byrd in April 2000, when he was forced to withdraw with a shoulder injury.

Klitschko had won the title with a June 1999 second round flattening of Herbie Hide at the London Arena.

Lewis has not fought since beating Mike Tyson in Memphis one year ago. He had initially intended to meet Tyson again but that rematch now looks as far away as ever.

Lewis could reasonably have requested a later date to fight Klitschko and there is no doubt a bigger purse could have been raised had there been time to market the bout as a pay-per-view event.

The champion however seems content to press ahead with the original June 21 date.

He told his personal website, www.lennoxlewis.com: “It’s good to be back in the ring and feeling very fit and ready to go.

“The show must go on, for the sake of my fans out there, even though I am taking a pay cut by fighting Vitali now.

“Vitali Klitschko, as impressive as his record is, has never seen a boxer like me. He’ll wish he had never asked for this challenge. I cannot see this going the distance.”