PARIS (AP)—Jean-Marc Mormeck has a simple plan for achieving his dream of becoming France’s first heavyweight champion: smash Wladimir Klitschko’s face.
Klitschko will defend his WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles against Mormeck in Duesseldorf, Germany on Dec. 10.
“I want his belts,” Mormeck said. “If I want to get them, I’ll have to smash his face.”
“I’ve seen all his opponents, and when they get in the ring, I have the impression that they don’t do what they need to do. They don’t move forward. They don’t take any risk.”
The former WBC and WBA cruiserweight champion is confident of landing the decisive blow against Klitschko.
“He has lost three fights and each time he lost them without going the distance,” Mormeck said. “He couldn’t recover each time he got hit. That means he doesn’t take those hits well.”
The 39-year-old Frenchman has won his three fights since moving up to the heavyweight division in 2009.
“I’ve already seen you in a bad shape quite a few times,” Mormeck told Klitschko during the news conference. “Wladimir has a glass chin that I will break.”
Mormeck is No. 9 in the WBO and WBA rankings and will become only the third Frenchman after Georges Carpentier in 1921 and Lucien Rodriguez in 1983 to fight for a heavyweight world title.
“It’s the biggest challenge of my career,” Mormeck said. “I’d like to become the first heavyweight champion from France.”
Mormeck (36-4, 22 KOs) announced that he will be coached by former Mike Tyson trainer Kevin Rooney.
The bout will be Klitschko’s first since he beat British boxer David Haye by unanimous decision in July in a heavyweight unification fight for the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
“Everyone has a plan until they get hit,” said Klitschko, 56-3 with 49 KOs. “So you got a plan and then you’re getting hit. Then the whole plan is just screwed up. So you can’t really follow the plan.”
“I can imagine what kind of game plan you could have for this fight,” he told Mormeck. “Boxing is a chess game. I’m definitely going to fight you, play chess with you in the ring and eventually make a checkmate.”
Mormeck’s last defeat came against Haye, when he lost his WBC and WBA cruiserweight titles in 2007.
“I’m taking Jean-Marc very seriously,” Klitschko said. “He was fighting David Haye and he almost knocked him out. I was fighting David Haye and couldn’t really land right shots. So I couldn’t do the same thing that Jean-Marc did.”
Mormeck sent Haye to the floor in the fourth round before getting knocked out in the seventh.
“I’m not expecting him to move backward like David Haye,” Klitschko said. “That’s not Jean-Marc’s style. The only thing that he knows is (to) move forward.”
Klitschko is undefeated since a knockout loss to American Lamon Brewster in 2004.
Wladimir’s older brother, Vitali, is the WBC heavyweight champion.