By Kenneth Friedman: Manager David Haye is excited about the many options that Dereck Chisora has available to him after being edged out by pound-for-pound heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk in a close 12 round unanimous decision defeat last Saturday night at the Wembley Arena in Wembley, England.
Haye wants to see Chisora (32-10, 23 KOs) return against Dillian Whyte next in a trilogy match. Chisora, 36, has twice lost to Whyte (27-2, 18 KOs) in competitive fights in 2016 and 2018, and he likes the idea of a better-conditioned Dereck taking him on now.
No way will Chisora be retiring after his loss to Usyk last Saturday. He wants to get back into the gym and keep improving to work on getting a title shot.
Chisora’s performance against Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs) showed that he could compete against the best and come close to beating them.
Dereck has improved
“He said he was going to bring the heat, and that’s exactly what he did,” Haye said to Sky Sports News about Chisora’s loss to Usyk. “He pushed Usyk, and Usyk had to have been on fire last night and as good as he’s ever been. And he [Usyk] rated himself a three, and the reason why is because Dereck forced him to fight a horrible type of fight.
“Three years ago everyone in boxing said he [Chisora] should retire,” Haye said about Chisora after his loss to Agit Kabayel. “But seeing him compete against one of the top heavyweights on the planet [Usyk] showed me that we are doing the right things. He’s ready to go.
“He called me this morning and said he’s ready to get back in. ‘I can do better next time.’ I told him, ‘You need to chill. Take some time off. Put your feet up. Don’t think about boxing for a while.
“Once he gets tagged, he’s fighting on instincts, and I think his instincts are getting better. He doesn’t care who he fights. He wants to be in the biggest fights and give the fans what they want,” said Haye.
Chisora’s conditioning has improved his stamina in a big way, but he still needs a lot of work in that area. Instead of being a 12-round fighter, Chisora was only capable fighting hard for the first four rounds.
He needs to build that up to him being able to fight hard for at least ten rounds. Six won’t be good enough or Chisora to beat the top heavyweights in the division.
Haye wants Whyte vs. Chisora III next
“There are some amazing options,” Haye said about Chisora’s next fight. “Joseph Parker was scheduled before the spider bite. Dillian Whyte III? Who would not want to see Dillian Whyte 3?
“I can tell you I was in both training camps for Dillian Whyte and this one. What Dereck did in training was significantly improved from that fight. If that fight was as close as it was with Dereck winning before he got done in the eleventh round, I definitely think he’ll raise his game.
“Dillian has taken a heavy loss [to Alexander Povetkin] since then. I’m sure he’s going to be improved. It’s not an easy fight, but it’s one that the fans will definitely have a field day with,” said Haye on his hopes for a Whyte vs. Chisora III trilogy.
The only way Whyte faces Chisora again is if he loses his rematch with Alexander Povetkin this month on November 21st. Should Whyte get knocked out again by Povetkin, he’s going to need a fight against Chisora to come back.
Dillian beat Chisora by an 11th round knockout in their rematch in 2018 after struggling through the first 10 rounds. In their first fight in 2016, Whyte beat Chisora by a controversial 12 round decision.
Whyte probably won’t bother with Chisora if he defeats Povetkin on November 21st. With the victory over Povetkin, Whyte will be the WBC mandatory again, and he’ll likely take it easy through 2021 while waiting for his mandated title shot in 2022.
Joshua stops Usyk quickly if he uses power game
“It depends on if Anthony Joshua has a boxing match against him or uses his physical size advantage,” Haye said when asked how Joshua would do against Usyk.
“Joshua is physically so superior [to Usyk] in terms of punch power and athleticism. If Joshua is able to implement that in a rough, tough fight, he could get this guy [Usyk] out of there pretty easy.
“But if he stands off and has his amateur long-range boxing match as he did against [Andy] Ruiz in his last fight, it could be very tricky. That’s what Usyk thrives on.
He [Usyk] thrives on long-range boxing. He’s the best at long-range boxing. I feel that AJ would need to implement the tactics that Tyson Fury did against Deontay Wilder [in the rematch], where he used his size and mowed over him,” said Haye.
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua probably steamrolls Usyk if he goes after him the way that he’s done with many of his opponents during his career.
But this new emphasis by Joshua of him fighting like Wladimir Klitschko would be the wrong thing for him to do against Usyk. Joshua would likely gas out if he boxes Usyk, and he might even get knocked out in the second half of the fight.
The Joshua who beat Dillian Whyte and Dominic Breazeale would be too strong and too athletic for Usyk.
Dereck was hurt by Usyk a couple of times
“Once again, it would be a very entertaining and exciting fight,” Haye on the Usyk vs. Chisora fight. “But Usyk, a couple of times, it looked like Dereck was out on his feet.
“In a couple of rounds, he pushed himself the whole round and didn’t have much left, and he got tagged a couple of times, and he was rocking on his heels.
“Usyk should have put a few more big punches together. It seemed like the early rounds that were so tough, he [Usyk] was exhausted as well.
“So he wasn’t able to go into that second gear. But it was a very, very tough introduction to the heavyweight scene. He passed the test. And he was on his feet. He won the fight on points,” said David.
Usyk had Chisora hurt more than a couple of times in the fight, but he didn’t press it the way he needed to. Chisora looked wobbly in the tenth.
During the early rounds, Usyk didn’t expend much energy as he was trying not to get belted around the ring. Chisora’s weight advantage was too much for Usyk in the early going.
Dereck was almost 40 pounds heavier than Usyk, and his power was far superior. The fight resembled a match between a cruiserweight and a heavyweight.
Usyk was supposed to have put on weight since moving up to heavyweight, but he hasn’t. He’s still close to the same size that he was at cruiserweight.
The only reasons why Usyk was able to hang in there were because of his stamina, boxing skills, ring movement, and Chisora’s poor cardio.
Usyk winning by a 115-113 score made sense
“Congratulations to him and his team. They [Team Usyk] put forth a great fight. A lot of people feel that Usyk won the fight easily,” Haye said.
“I’m reading some reviews, and I’ve seen the other side. Some people feel that it was closer, but the fans won. That’s what matters. During a tough time in human existence, the fans were able to enjoy a great night of entertainment.
“115-113, a two-point margin, I could understand why someone could come to that scorecard. I can get that.
“You can make a comfortable argument, but for anything more than that, you have to be really, really focusing on the slick style [of Usyk] rather than the punches landed on target.
“It depends on what you like and what style you like. The show was fantastic, the whole promotion from start to finish. We had a real short period to promote this fight,” Haye continued.
115-113 for Usyk or 114-114 are scores that a lot of boxing fans had on social media. Very few fans saw Usyk winning 116-112.
The judge who fought scored 117-112 for Usyk seemed more enamored with Usyk’s slickness than Chisora’s power and the pressure he put on him.
While Chisora did well in the first four rounds, he was outworked by Usyk from round five through twelve. When Usyk took his foot off the accelerator in the eleventh, Chisora could come back and do well enough to win that round.
Usyk eased up on Chisora after hurting him in the tenth and having him close to being knocked out.
We don’t know if Usyk took it easy on Chisora out of sympathy or respect, but he clearly eased up in the eleventh after having him hurt in the previous round.
Chisora’s improvements made the fight close
“He’s [Chisora] raring to go. He said, ‘Dave, we got to get back soon as possible,'” Haye said about Dereck wanting to return soon. “It was a tough fight, and it was such a long camp.
“It was a really difficult thing for him to peak and train for a fight when you don’t know when the date is. But fortunately, Dereck gave it everything, and he deserves a lot of credit, and the fans have been so nice to him.
“If it wasn’t for the fans, he still wouldn’t be here. He knows boxing is his love now. And he loves training. He never used to love it. Now he loves it, and you can see the improvement.
“He would have never gone 12 rounds with Usyk a couple of years ago. It wouldn’t have been the case.
“He would have run out of steam and got with those sharp punches, those sharp, crisp punches from Usyk, but he was in the fight, mixed it up, and I’m really, really proud of him,” said Haye about Chisora’s performance.
It’s not just the improvements that Chisora has made in his training that helped him compete against the 33-year-old Usyk. It was Chisora’s huge size, power, and weight advantage over the 217-pound Usyk.
Chisora weighed in at 255 lbs last Friday, and he was a much bigger guy than Oleksandr.
If Chisora didn’t gas out in the fight, he would have won easily, but he didn’t have much left in the second half of the contest. That’s where Usyk took over and won the fight.
For Chisora to beat someone like Whyte, he’s going to need to improve his conditioning because he’s going to get worn down and knocked out if he doesn’t build up his cardio.