Fore! Wlad Klitschko swings back to fitness

If you thought Wladimir Klitschko had a fairway to go before recovering from injury, you must have been very green indeed. The IBF and WBO champion, who withdrew from a proposed 11th December match with Derek Chisora citing an abdominal injury just three days before the bout, was pictured taking a hearty swing during a round of golf over the Christmas break.

Big Wlad was pictured playing the Palmer Course at the PGA National in Palm Beach on 22nd December - just a fortnight after he withdrew from his defence against Chisora.

"When I'm somewhere in the cold winter, I think about Florida," said Klitschko, who has a condo in the state. "I think about PGA National and think about playing golf. It's just awesome."

Once a few people started questioning the veracity of his injury, Klitschko appeared to backtrack, telling German newspaper Bild, "That was no real golf, I can't even think about that. I just held the club for a short time for a TV-documentary about my life."

At the time of his withdrawal, his adviser Shelly Finkel said, "He has torn a muscle in his back" before it was concluded that the injury was abdominal.

Although Finkel also conceded that the injury wasn't serious, Del Boy will be even more suspicious about Klitschko's absence now than he was at the time when he said, "When we saw him this afternoon he was all right, everything was good, he was moving all right and I just think he didn't want it."

Chisora's sparring partners should watch out. He might very well be looking to punch a hole in one.