By Tim Royner: Former heavyweight world title challenger Dereck Chisora (28-8, 20 KOs) dispatched his over-matched opponent Zakaria Azzouzi (14-3-2, 10 KOs) by a 2nd round knockout on Saturday night on the undercard of the Dillian Whyte vs. Lucas Browne card at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Chisora dropped the 32-year-old Azzouzi with a big looping right hand. The fight was then halted by referee Robert Williams after Azzouzi struggled to his feet on weak leaks. The official time of the stoppage was at 2:12 of round 2.
In round 1, Chisora stalked Azzouzi, hitting him with jabs to the midsections, looping right hands and uppercuts. When Azzouzi went to the ropes late in the round, Chisora took advantage of it by hitting him with right hands and uppercuts. Chisora hit Azzouzi with some major shots, but the French fighter made it out of the round.
Chisora attacked Azzouzi right off the bat in round 2, hitting him with body shots and looping punches that were landing occasionally to the back of his head. In the final seconds of the round, Chisora landed a scorching right hand that dropped Azzouzi hard on the canvas. The referee probably should have stopped it immediately, because Azzouzi was badly hurt. Instead, the referee waited until Azzouzi got back to his feet before he halted the fight.
Azzouzi landed some nice shots on Chisora in the 1s and 2nd rounds, but he didn’t have the punching power to worry him.
Azzouzi was a terrible opponent. Chisora looked great because his opponent was just so dreadfully bad. This fight proved nothing. Chisora was matched against a 2nd tier guy that he could have destroyed even in the worst shape of his career.
Chisora looked in good shape at 250 pounds tonight. It’s the best he’s looked since his fight against Dillian Whyte in December 2016.
After the fight, promoter David Haye and his fighter heavyweight prospect Joe Joyce interrupted Chisora while he was being interviewed by Sky Sports. Haye tried to get Chisora to agree to a fight against the 6’6” Joyce on the undercard of the Haye vs. Tony Bellew 2 fight for May 5th. However, Chisora appeared to be ready for Haye, as he told him that the only he’ll agree to a fight against Joyce is if Haye gives him his entire purse for the Bellew fight if he beats Joyce. Haye told Chisora no deal. Chisora then said, “You have no confidence in your fighter.” It made Chisora look good, but the reality is he basically is ducking the fight against Joyce. Chisora does not want the Joyce fight, which is understandable, because he’s so much smaller than him and there would be a good chance that would lose. If the 34-year-old Chisora gets beaten by Joyce, it’s game over for him. His career would be over. Joyce didn’t say much through the entire conversation with Chisora. Joyce is not talker at all. That made him look bad, but he would still likely beat Chisora up if that fight were to happen. Chisora wins an argument with Joyce, but likely not a fight.
With Chisora not interested in fighting Joyce, it’s unclear when he’ll fight again. Haye said Chisora won’t be fighting on his May 5th card if it’s not against Joyce, and that obviously is not going to happen. Chisora does not fancy the fight with Joyce. It’s a no win situation for Chisora. The fight that Chisora is interested in is against Carlos Takam. That’s a difficult fight for Chisora, because Takam can actually fight and he’s got size and power. The way Chisora looked tonight, he might lose to Takam. Chisora is too easy to hit, and he’s not likely to knockout Takam. Chisora wants to work himself into a title shot against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua. It’s a huge long shot for Chisora to get a crack at Joshua. Chisora would likely need to beat Takam as well as one or two other top heavyweights for him to get a title fight, because the fans have seen him lose too many times in the last few years of his career. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn would look bad if he tried selling a fight to the boxing public between Joshua and Chisora. If Chisora can beat Takam and Jarrell Miller, he might get a title shot. I don’t think he can beat either of those guys unfortunately. It’s not going to work for Chisora padding his record against fighters like Zakaria Azzouzi though. Chisora has got to fight better opposition than this. He should have agreed to the fight against Joyce, because he might have a better offer. Takam has nothing to gain from fighting Chisora because he’s a fringe contender ranked lower than he is right now. Takam needs to be fighting higher ranked contenders to get into position for another world title shot.
