Wladimir Klitschko has revealed that his "big ego" is providing him with the motivation ahead of his world title clash with Tyson Fury on Saturday night.
Klitschko's WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts will be on the line in Dusseldorf this weekend, but the Ukrainian, who has been world champion since 2006, has showed a different side to his personality ahead of his heavyweight showdown against the British challenger.
The 39-year-old told Sky Sports News: "This probably sounds selfish, but I have a very big ego. 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."
Klitschko has not suffered defeat since 2004, when he was beaten by Lamont Brewster.
Darren Plant
