By Scott Gilfoid: EBU Heavyweight champion Dereck Chisora (18-4, 12 KO’s) isn’t bothered that he’s facing Ondrej Pala (32-3, 22 KO’s) this Saturday night instead of his previously scheduled opponent Matteo Modugno.
Palo was brought in to replace the injured Modugno, who suffered a rib injury while getting ready for the soon to be 30-year-old Chisora. But Chisora is taking the change in stride, and is focusing on just trying to lose weight and get prepared for the fight on Saturday at the Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, Hackney Wick, London, United Kingdom.
Chisora said to Sky Sports “You just have to keep going with it and jeep pushing. You can’t complain. I have been aiming for the same weight on those scales all the time so it’s no different for me, no different at all. First all of them sign the contract but then they get in the gym and they get hurt.”
Yeah, it’s not a big deal to have opponents pull out at the last minute and have them replaced when you’re talking about the quality of the guys that Chisora is facing. It’s no big deal to go from the likes of the little known Modugno, who was recently knocked out, to face someone like Palo.
It’s not as if we’re talking about Chisora going from fighting the likes of Modugno to facing someone good like Deontay Wilder overnight. If that was the situation, I could see Chisora doing a heck of a lot of complaining.
It wouldn’t be a pretty picture to have Chisora shuffling out in the ring to face the lighting quick and incredibly powerful 6’7″ Deontay Wilder on just a week’s notice. But with the guys that Chisora is fighting now at the European level, many of them are interchangeable because they don’t have a ton of talent. The one good fighter at the European level, Kubrat Pulev, got a clue and decided to give up the EBU strap in order to go after bigger and better things at the world level. The fact that Chisora is still bothering with that title is troubling because it’s usually a strap held by younger heavyweights, not guys that are pushing 30-years-old like him.
Chisora will win this fight on Saturday night, but that’s not really saying anything, is it? This is a weak opponent for Chisora, and pretty much a waste of time. If Chisora really wants an express trip to the top to try and get another crack at one of the Klitschko brothers, then he needs to dump the EBU strap and start fighting good heavyweights for a change.
I know Chisora had a handful of bad experiences when he tried to step it up and fight quality opponents in the past with him getting soundly beaten four times, but he’s still better off staying at that level than to retreat backwards with his career in fight weak opposition over and over and over again like he’s doing now. Chisora has beaten Edmund Gerber, Malik Scott, and Hector Alfredo Avila in his last three fights since David Haye blasted him out in 5 rounds last year.
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