British heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora has been released after nearly seven hours of questioning by Munich police following his brawl with former WBA champion David Haye at a post-fight news conference.
A black van carried the boxer and his coach, Don Charles, from police headquarters, speeding past assembled photographers.
“He still faces a charge of simple assault but he is allowed to return to England for now,” police spokesman Gottfried Schlicht told AP on Sunday.
Chisora and fellow Londoner Haye came to blows after Chisora’s defeat by unanimous decision to Vitali Klitschko in their WBC title fight.
Charles also faces a charge of assault for his involvement in the melee.
Schlicht said more serious charges were reduced when police were unable to apprehend Haye, despite searching for the boxer at his hotel.
“We don’t know where he is,” Schlicht said.
Chisora and Charles were both detained at Munich airport at 10.30am on Sunday and taken in for questioning to Munich police headquarters.
Chisora was initially held on suspicion of assault, causing grievous bodily harm and of making a threat, having been heard vowing to shoot Haye the night before.
“I swear to God, David, I am going to shoot you. I am going to shoot you. I am going to physically shoot David Haye,” Chisora was heard yelling as he claimed that Haye hit him with a glass.
Chisora’s promoter Frank Warren called the brawl “ugly, horrible and disgraceful” but said it was not his boxer who threw the first punch.
“It was an embarrassment for British boxing,” Warren told Sky Sports News. “I would say they were total idiots.”
Chisora taunted Haye about losing the WBA belt to Klitschko’s younger brother, Wladimir, last July, leading to a heated exchange before Chisora knocked a bottle out of Haye’s hand and they came to blows.
Haye also fought with members of Chisora’s entourage, and his coach, Adam Booth, was left bleeding from a cut on his head.
Camera equipment went flying and reporters fled before security eventually managed to separate the men and police arrived at the scene.
After seeing the drama unfold, Wladimir Klitschko, who holds the IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight belts, told Sky News: “I’m totally disappointed, it went a little too far, the sport of boxing shouldn’t be like that.
“Bloody faces in the news conference… fighting in the ring, not out. I’m really surprised.”
Vitali, who defended his WBC title for the tenth time, despite an injured shoulder, said he did not respect Chisora as a person.
“If you are a sportsman with millions of people watching you have to set a good example, and Chisora didn’t do that,” Klitschko said.
“Young kids and boys were watching. I have got respect for Chisora as a fighter but no respect as a human being.”
The 40-year-old Klitschko was examined in a Munich hospital on Sunday and later reported a partially torn ligament in his left shoulder.
Chisora found little support from the sellout crowd of 12,500 after slapping Vitali Klitschko’s face at the weigh-in on Friday, and ensured the ill feelings continued when he spat water in Wladimir’s face as his brother’s record was being called out before their bout.
Klitschko improved his record to 44-2 (40 KOs) after what was arguably the toughest bout he’s had to endure since losing on a technical knockout to Lennox Lewis in 2003.
The Zimbabwe-born Chisora dropped to 15-3 (9 KOs) after his third defeat in his last four fights, but he had the fans in Munich’s Olympiahalle worried as Klitschko appeared to tire from his relentless attacks.