By Tim Royner: Dillian Whyte says he would love to fight Dereck Chisora again. Whyte (24-1, 17 KOs) needs an opponent for December to get him ready for a possible fight against heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on April 13 at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
The rematch between Whyte and Joshua will be at risk if Dillian loses his December fight. He’s in a bit of a bind. He needs to face a quality opponent in December to make the fight with Joshua a bigger one that it is now. But if Whyte fights someone tough like Chisora, he might lose or get beaten up and made to look bad. Chisora did that to Whyte the last time they fought. Whyte looked second best in that fight.
Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn wants him to fight Chisora, Dominic Breazeale or Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller. Whyte’s sudden interest in facing Chisora (29-8, 21 KOs) again appears to be a move of him taking the weakest link. Hearn is giving Whyte a choice between those three. It would look bad if Whyte didn’t show interest in fighting one of them. Hearn dropped a big hint that he wants Whyte to fight Chisora by saying that’s the biggest fight of the three and he one that the British boxing public wants to next to a Joshua-Whyte 2 rematch. Whyte needs to show the fans that he’s interested in the Chisora fight if he’s the guy that Hearn is telling him that he’s going to be fighting in December. Whyte can’t be seen talking down the Chisora fight if that’s the one he’s going to be taking next.
Two and a half years ago, Whyte beat Chisora by a questionable 12 round split decision in December 2016. The results of the fight didn’t sit too well with many boxing fans, who thought that the Eddie Hearn promoted Whyte was given a win because of powerful promoter rather than what he did inside the ring on the night. Whyte was just happy to get the victory over Chisora, and he ignored his requests for a rematch until now. Faced with the need of a victory to setup the Joshua fight next April, Whyte needs to make a decision whether to fight Chisora again or take on Breazeale or Miller. Those fighters are younger and considerably bigger than the 6’2” Chisora. They also have more mileage in the tank, as they haven’t been involved in the same type of grueling fights that Chisora has during his career. Chisora is coming off a tough 8th round TKO win over former heavyweight world title challenger Carlos Takam on July 28. It was a big win for Chisora, but he took heavy punishment before he came on strong in the 8th round and knocked Takam down twice to get the stoppage. Chisora showed a lot of heart in coming back in the 8th to get the victory. Takam looked like he was on his way to winning the fight going into the 8th, but Chisora was able to come alive with some big punches to hurt Takam to get the career-saving knockout.
“I’d love to fight Derek Chisora, as this time I’d stop him,” Whyte said to skysports.com. “That fight was funny – it was my first 12 rounder and Derek was already British champion. I was inexperienced. I tried to fight him and leave a bit of energy for the later rounds and, even then, I was fitter than him in the later rounds. This time it would be a piece of cake,” Whyte said.
Whyte believes he’s improved since his fight with Chisora in 2016, but he hasn’t faced good enough opposition to really tell whether that’s so or not. The toughest opponent Whyte has had in the last two years was his fight with former World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Joseph Parker (24-2, 18 KOs) last July in London, England. Whyte knocked the 26-year-old Parker down twice in the fight, but he found himself getting knocked down in the 12th round after the New Zealand fighter rallied.
Whyte accidentally head-butted Parker in the 2nd round and was given credit for a knockdown by the referee Ian John Lewis, who was asleep at the wheel and missed the call. Whyte could have lost the fight, but the blown call by Lewis allowed him to get the victory. Whyte’s other wins since the Chisora fight came against Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne, Robert Helenius and Malcolm Tann. The 39-year-old Browne (25-1, 22 KOs) was an unbeaten former WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion when Whyte fought him. However, Browne looked old, slow and fat for the Whyte fight, and not someone that resembled a former world champion. The victory for Whyte proved nothing because of how bad Browne was.
If Chisora isn’t depleted from his recent hard fight against Carlos Takam, he would have a really good chance of beating Whyte. Chisora hurt Whyte numerous times in their fight two years ago. With the head shots that Whyte took in getting knocked down by Joseph Parker in his last fight, Chisora would have a good chance of beating him.
“It’s the fight I think everyone wants – and I want it as well,” Whyte said about a rematch between him and Joshua.
For a lot of British boxing fans, they’re hoping Chisora beats Whyte so that they can see a different match-up than having to see a rematch between Joshua and Whyte. Joshua knocked Whyte out in the 7th round in a fight in December 2015. Chisora has never fought Joshua, so it would be interesting to see those two face each other rather than a second fight.
Chisora is a bigger puncher than Whyte, and he could put him in a bad position if he hurts him in the rematch. Whyte was hurt against Parker in the 12th round, but the round ended before he could be finished off. If Chisora starts in where Parker left off by hurting Whyte early, he’ll have the next 11 rounds to finish him. Chisora won’t run out of time like Parker did. Whyte got away with roughing Parker up. He won’t be able to do that against Chisora, because he’s good at roughing up his opponents as well. If Chisora is in good shape for the rematch, it’ll be a different story than it was the first time Whyte fought him. Chisora got tired last time he fought Whyte. In Chisora’s last fight against Takam, he was in excellent shape and didn’t show any signs of fatigue. This allowed him to come on and stop Takam in the 8th.