Whyte picking Dereck Chisora over Oleksandr Usyk

By Boxing News - 01/28/2020 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte is predicting that Oleksandr Usyk will meet with defeat when/if he faces Dereck Chisora in the coming months. Usyk and Chisora are in negotiations for a fight that could take place in April or May.

This would be a risky fight for Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs), given that he’s the WBO mandatory challenger to champion Anthony Joshua, and he’s expected to face him in the second half of 2020. Usyk, 33, isn’t that much younger than the 36-year-old Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs), and he has a lot to lose.

This is a win-win situation for Chisora. Not only does he get a nice payday against Usyk, if he beats him, then he’ll be in a position to get a world title shot against Joshua. That’s where the big bucks come in.

Even if Chisora loses, he can still win, as long as he forces Usyk to struggle to get the victory. What we saw of Usyk in his heavyweight debut against Chazz Witherspoon is a fighter that isn’t cut out for the division. Usyk is too small, too weak and too slow to make up for his inadequacies.

“Of course, 100 percent, and I’m backing him to win as well, because Usyk struggled with Chazz Witherspoon,” said Whyte to skysports.com.  “Okay he out-boxed him and out-manoeuvred him, but he hit him with a million punches before he stopped him.”

Usyk looked poor against the 38-year-old Witherspoon in beating him by a 7th round stoppage last October in Chicago. The 242 pound Witherspoon showed none of the talent that he once possessed earlier in his career 12 years ago. Usyk should have been able to dominate Witherspoon, but he failed to. Witherspoon, who was slow as molasses, marked up Usyk’s face in the fight.

This was the second consecutive fight in which Usyk failed to impress. He struggled to beat 36-year-old Tony Bellew in their fight in November 2018. Usyk stopped Bellew in the 8th round, but he was getting out-punched by him through 7 rounds.

Surprisingly, the huge underdog Bellew was ahead on the 2 of the judges’ scorecards going into the 8th round. The scores were 67-66, 68-65 for Bellew, and 67-67. Usyk was trying as hard as he could to win, but Bellew’s power advantage, and his faster hands were giving Usyk fits. If not for Bellew gassing out, he probably would have won the fight.

It would be smarter for Usyk NOT to take the fight with Chisora, and instead lean on Eddie Hearn to find him another opponent similar to Witherspoon. There’s too much for Usyk to lose in facing Chisora, and he’s clearly not a heavyweight.

Evander Holyfield made the leap from cruiserweight to heavyweight and found success in the 80s and 90s, but he possessed more talent. Holyfield not only had amazing boxing skills, but he could punch and had a great chin. Usyk couldn’t punch even at cruiserweight, and he can be hurt.