By Barry Holbrook: Dereck Chisora weighed in at 255.5 pounds for his 12-round fight against Oleksandr Usyk for their heavyweight clash on Saturday, October 31st. Watch the fight LIVE on DAZN.
The two fighters had an incredibly long face-to-face after the weigh-in in which Usyk didn’t appear to blink the entire time. Chisora got right up to Usyk’s face and was speaking to him the whole time.
In a couple of instances, Usyk backed up a few inches to keep from being crowded by Chisora, but there was no sign of fear on his face.
Chisora (32-9, 23 KOs) looks in good shape, and he says he’s ready for war against WBO mandatory Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) for their fight at the Wembley Arena in London, England.
Oleksandr looking solid at 217.25 lbs
Usyk weighed 217.25 lbs, which is slightly heavier than the 215 lbs that he weighed for his heavyweight debut last October against Chazz Witherspoon.
Although Usyk still looks small for a heavyweight, he’s still formidable for his size. He’s not going to be an easy foe for Dereck or any of the larger heavyweights in the division, including Joshua and Tyson Fury.
The 33-year-old Usyk was supposed to have been bulking up for this fight with Dereck, but it doesn’t look like that’s the case.
A gain of 2.25 lbs isn’t going to change much in the power department for Usyk, an area that he needs a lot of work on.
In other weights on the card, former featherweight champion Lee Selby weighed in at 134 lbs for his IBF lightweight title eliminator against George Kambosos Jr. For his part, Kambosos Jr weighed in at 134 lbs.
The winner of this fight will be the mandatory challenger for IBF 135-pound champion Teofimo Lopez. It’s unclear whether Teofimo will ever defend his IBF title against the Selby-Kambosos Jr fight because there’s no interest from the U.S boxing public in a fight between him and either of those guys.
Teofimo can make more money fighting Ryan Garcia, Gervonta Davis, Devin Haney, or Josh Taylor vs. Jose Ramirez match-winner.
Chisora gives Oleksandr a warning
“I told him that I’m bringing the African Mandingo style, I’m going to rough and tough him. I’m going to war Africans tyle,” Chisora said to Sky Sports Boxing News when asked what he said to Usyk during Friday’s face off.
“He’s going to come with his European style. I’m going to war, that’s all I’m saying now. Today is wartime; it’s fight time. So I’m going to war. Don’t miss it. I’d rather him knock me out, or else I’ve done nothing.
“I’m fit, and you’re going to be very surprised about what happens in the ring. Either I’m going to knock him out, or he’s going to quit on his stool. That’s what I’m going for,” said Chisora.
A knockout win for Chisora would surprise many boxing fans, and it would be a tremendous shock to people worldwide. It’s not that Usyk is the greatest fighter we’ve ever seen before coming from the cruiserweight division.
Evander Holyfield was surely better than what Usyk has shown thus far, but he’s still a guy with a lot of technical ability. You can say that Usyk might be too skilled for the likes of Chisora, and that’s why a knockout is probably needed for Dereck to win on Saturday night.
Dereck in a zone now
“He’s in a zone now,” said manager David Haye about Chisora. “How he looks is where his mindset is at. He’s ready for war. He knows he has 12 rounds of action in him, and he wants to do damage. I told him that he needs to hold it in until tomorrow. Yesterday, it was all hugs and love.
Today at the weigh-in, he knew he was eye to eye with a man that he is going to have to go to battle with.
“This is going to be an epic battle, and he knows it. Any other performance in his life would not be good enough for him to win tomorrow,” said Haye about what Chisora needs to beat Oleksandr.
