Klitschko Brothers Ready to Defend Titles

Vitali Klitschko will make the third defense of his WBC heavyweight title against unbeaten Kevin Johnson, according to Klitschko's manager.

"It looks like he's going to fight Kevin Johnson on Dec. 12 in Switzerland [at the PostFinance Arena] in Bern," said Tom Loeffler of the Klitschko brothers' K2 promotions.

Loeffler also said that it looks as if Vitali's younger brother, 33-year-old Wladimir Kiltschko (53-3, 47 knockouts), will defend his IBF and WBO titles "sometime in March" against Philadelphia's Eddie Chambers (35-1, 18 KOs).

Wladmir will be making the ninth defense of his IBF crown, and the third of his WBA title.

The Chambers bout will likely take place in Europe, although the distant possibility exists that a purse bid between the promoters could potentially bring the fight to America, said Chambers' promoter, Dan Goosen.

"There's always that possibility, but right now, it's about making the best deal for Eddie.

We're in talks as we speak, and hope to have something done shortly," said Goosen. "It would obviously be great to have the fight in America, the question is whether or not it's feasible to have it in America."

Loeffler added that "getting the WBA title" presently owned by Russia's Nicolay Valuev "would be one of their goals as well."

In his last bout in May, the 30-year-old Johnson (22-0-1, nine KOs) won a battle of unbeaten fighters with a sixth-round stoppage of former Olympian, Devin Vargas (18-1, seven KOs).

The 38-year-old, Vitali Klitschko (38-2, 37 knockouts) is coming off of last month's 10th-round knockout victory over Cris Arreola (27-1, 24 KOs), a dominant effort for the Ukrainian-born champion executed at the Staples Center in his home town of Los Angeles.

Klitschko won the title following a nearly four-year layoff with an eighth-round stoppage of Nigeria's hard-hitting, Samuel Peter in October, and then made the first defense of his crown by knocking out Juan Carlos Gomez in nine rounds in March.