By Marcus Richardson: Dereck Chisora (27-8, 19 KOs) says he wants a big 12 round fight in the first quarter of 2018 to help get his career back on track. Former heavyweight title challenger Chisora lost his last fight to Agit Kabayel (17-0, 12 KOs) by a 12 round majority decision on November 4 in Monte Carlo, Monaco.
It was a surprising loss for Chisora, because he should have been able to win the fight if he’d applied more pressure. Kabayel didn’t look that good. It was more of a situation where Chisora didn’t attack him hard enough to do the job.
Chisora just turned 34-years-old last month on December 29. He says he thinks he has a lot more time left in his career despite his age. Chisora has lost 3 out of his last 5 fights. Maybe that’s age causing Chisora to lose. His loss to Dillian Whyte in 2016 was a controversial one that could have easily been a victory for him.
Chisora wants a rematch with Whyte, and he thinks it can happen due to the money being there. At this point in Chisora’s career, the fight against Whyte is really the only thing out there for him. I don’t see him getting anything other than that Jarrell Miller might be an option if Matchroom Sport promoter Eddie Hearn wants to make that fight, but that’s not a big money fight. It’s also one that Chisora would probably lose. Miller, 29, is younger, bigger, and stronger and he throws more punches than Chisora. I think it would be a bad match-up for Chisora.
“I want a big 12 round fight,” said Chisora to IFL TV. “That’s when you’ll see the devil come out. I owe the fans. I want to give them something for those who hate me.”
The only big fight that’s out there for Chisora is a rematch with Dillian Whyte. However, Chisora says Tyson Fury owes him another fight. Chisora has already fought Fury twice and lost both times. Realistically, the only chance Chisora has of getting a rubber match against Fury is if he’s taking the fight for one of his tune-ups. Once Fury is in shape and doing well, he has no real reason to fight Chisora again.
“Soon,” said Chisora, when asked about his next fight. “Chuck me into the deep end,” said Chisora in talking about his desire to fight a good opponent in his next fight. ”I don’t need no more warm-up fights. That’s stupid. I want a big 12 round fight. Monaco was a bad day for me. I didn’t really get beat. I came out of the fight not even marked. I changed my game plan during the fight. He was not better. He was running away. He was just running,” said Chisora in talking about Agit Kabayel.
Chisora was out-boxed by Kabayel. It was a close fight that could have gone Chisora’s way, but he gave away too many of the early rounds of the fight. That was where things went wrong for him. Chisora was too patient for his own good. He was treating the fight like it was a forgone conclusion that he was going to knock Kabayel out sooner or later. When the fight went into the deeper rounds, Chisora was desperate to try and knock him out, but it didn’t happen.
“He should just give him the money,” said Chisora about Joshua needing to give Joseph Parker the money he’s looking for. “If it was me, I would just give him the money. Pay him and let’s just move on,” said Chisora.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has been working hard to get Parker at a price that he feels he deserves. That’s between 30 and 35 percent of the purse. Hearn appears to have gotten Parker to agree to take the smaller purse split with the promise of a larger 55 percent cut if he beats Joshua. Since that’s unlikely to happen. Hearn has seemingly gotten a great deal for Joshua.
“Not this year,” said Chisora in talking about the Joshua vs. Fury fight. “Tyson has a lot of bark, but not bite. He’s talking. He’s going to have 3 or 3 fights this year. When he’s focused and ready, he’ll fight next year. He owes me a fight anyway,” said Chisora.
Fury has been talking a lot about wanting to fight Anthony Joshua by the summer of this year, but it’s possible that he’s not serious about it. He wants to keep the boxing public interested in him. The best way to do that is for Fury to challenge Joshua on a daily basis on social media. The risk of doing that every day is it’ll turn Fury into a clown in the eyes of a lot of boxing fans when he fails to take the fight with Joshua in 2018.
“He’s not training to be a fighter. He’s training to be a model,” said Chisora about Dillian Whyte. “I’m talking about Dillian Whyte. Every day he’s in the gym doing his legs, arm day and chest day. He’s in great shape. He wants to be a bodybuilder. The rematch will happen. I’ll push for the rematch. He wants the rematch. I actually spoke to him. He wants the rematch. You know why? He’s fighting [Lucas] Browne. He’s not getting any money. He fought [Robert] Helenius. He didn’t get any money. It’s a stinker,” said Chisora in talking about Whyte’s fight with Lucas Browne. “It’ll be alright.”
Chisora needs to beat someone in the first half of 2018 to make himself a good option to fight Whyte after that. With 2 defeats in his last 3 fights, Chisora is not in a good position to get a fight against Whyte or anybody with a name. Chisora needs to beat someone good to put himself in position for a fight with Whyte. The ultimate goal is for Chisora to beat a couple of good heavyweights so that he can put himself in position for a title shot against Joshua. If Chisora can get a fight against Joshua, he’ll make huge money.
Whyte, 29, might be following Anthony Joshua’s lead in hitting the weights hard. Joshua has gotten great benefits from lifting weights and bulking up to 254 pounds. Whyte might be thinking he can do the same thing with his career. Whyte looked in better shape for his last fight against Helenius. It didn’t help him perform better though. Whyte was hurt by Helenius, and he wasn’t able to dent his chin with his punches.
