By Charles Brun: Derek Chisora & Kubrat Pulev went back and forth with trash-talking in their face-off with Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn to discuss their rematch on July 9th at the O2 Arena in London.
The two-time former heavyweight world title challenger Pulev (29-2, 14 KOs) let the 38-year-old journeyman Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) know that he’s using him as a stepping stone to get another crack at a world title.
Pulev is no longer ranked in the top 15 by any of the four sanctioning bodies after his loss to Anthony Joshua in 2020. I hate to say it but it’s going to take a lot more than a win over Chisora to give Pulev a high enough ranking to challenge for a world title.
This rematch is pointless because Pulev soundly beat Chisora six years ago, and there’s no need for a second fight other than for business purposes.
Chisora hasn’t won a fight in three years since 2019, and he’s coming off of one of his worst performances in ages in his one-sided 12-round decision defeat at the hands of Joseph Parker.
Derek looked like an old man in need of a good bench to rest on in that fight, and the only reason he wasn’t knocked out is that Parker lacks the killer instict.
Eddie Hearn: ” Derek Chisora vs. Kubrat Pulev live on DAZN. They’ve given me the job today of sitting here between you too. I’m a little bit scared.”
Kubrat Pulev: “A little bit?”
Hearn: “Slightly.”
Pulev: “When I’m here, don’t be scared. Only Derek is not safe.”
Hearn: “Last time you boxed Derek, you got the victory, the famous victory in Hamburg. There are very different interpretations of that fight. When I said to you earlier today that Derek feels that he should have won that fight, you smiled, you laughed, you’re confident that you deserved the victory that night.”
Pulev: “Yeah, I’m ready for everything. I’m really ready for everything.”
Hearn: “Derek, that night, are you a different fighter now? Back then, I don’t know if you had the confidence or the intensity.”
Derek Chisora: “I had the confidence. I asked for the fight, and I wanted the fight.”
Hearn: “So many close fights over the years with Helenius, Dillian Whyte, Joseph Parker, was that a fight that you believed you won?”
Chisora: “Yeah, but after they raised his hand, I didn’t cry over spilled milk. I just walked out, went home and trained again, and bounced back.”
Pulev: “How are you going to win, Derek? How?”
Chisora: “I’m going to bring war.”
Pulev: “You bring war last time. How about now what is different now? What is the big difference? What?”
Chisora: “You’re older and I’m younger.”
Pulev: “Me?
Chisora: “Yeah.”
Pulev: “You talk to me?
Chisora: “Yeah, I’m talking to you.”
Pulev: “Okay, this is your better things?”
Chisora: “You’re going to have to wait to see how I best you.”
Pulev: “How?’
Chisora: “You’ll see. You will see on the day of the fight, you’ll see.”
Pulev: “What is different?”
Chisora: “You’ll see. You will see.”
Pulev: “Hmmm, maybe my style is going to be different? Maybe you’re going to be surprised.”
Chisora: “Surprised by what? I’m not going to be surprised by anything.”
Hearn: “Kubrat, one thing that struck me about this press conference is that you’re very confident coming into this fight. Derek, you’re also confident that you’ll win this fight by stoppage. You [Pulev] didn’t agree with that up there as well. I’ve not seen this confident. I know we’ve had press conferences with Anthony Joshua, but you have no doubts in your mind that you beat this man on July 9th?”
Pulev: “We have one small history, and you can’t just delete this. He was in his best form at the time, and I was in my best form too. He tried to make everything in the ring, he gave everything, and he gave his best.”
Hearn: “His best was not good enough?”
Pulev: “His best is not good enough against me. He’s a good fighter, no question, but what is different now?”
Hearn: “You were quite clear at the press conference of winning this fight by stoppage. Is that the intention you have in this fight?”
Chisora: “100%, I’m going to stop him, yeah.”
Pulev: “Derek, you smoke joint?”
Chisora: “I’m going to knock you out.”
Pulev: “I tell you already, it’s not good to talk joke.”
Chisora: “I’m not talking. I’m just saying, I’m telling you.”
Pulev: “The last time, you said the same thing, you don’t change nothing. Your last fight was a rematch [with Joseph Parker], and it was the same thing with the first fight. Do you know what I’m saying?”
Chisora: “All I’m saying is I’m going to knock you out.”
Hearn: “What are we going to see from you, Pulev? You’ve got a great boxing style. Are you ready to stand and trade as well with Dereck Chisora?”
Chisora: “He won’t trade up.”
Pulev: “I’m here. I’ve got a lot of energy, every round, new energy. Yesterday when I was running 10 kilometers like a real animal.”
Chisora: “What did you smoke before you ran?”
Hearn: “You felt the benefit coming off that fight [against Jerry Forrest]. You had a good ten rounds? It was an easy fight against a good opponent.”
Chisora: “You did ten rounds?”
Pulev: “Yeah.”
Chisora: “The last time I did ten rounds was a couple of years ago.”
Pulev: “I want to make training, you know? I can’t stop him. I like to be good prepared. For me, this is most important. With Joshua, I was not good prepared. This was my mistake. You always talk ‘war, war, war.’ You must be best prepared. You must have best strategy. You have nothing.”
Chisora: “I’m still here though, ain’t I?”
Pulev: “Good, good, good.”
Chisora: “You keep saying you’re not prepared. I don’t get it. I like to fight everybody.”
Pulev: “This I respect very much.”
Chisora: “I don’t duck & dive.”
Pulev: “Good, brother.”
Chisora: “You like to duck & dive because you like to prepare. So you fight s*** fighters so you can prove you’re better than anybody else because you boxed a punk a couple of weeks ago and you beat him in ten rounds. You think you’re prepared in your mind. No, you’re not. I can let you fight anyone you want, but when you fight me.”
Pulev: “Without preparing.”
Chisora: “I lost a fight in December and I was on the phone, asking to give me the biggest fight out there. We had the Polish dude.”
Pulev: “I understand you. Do you think this is smart?”
Chisora: “No. It’s called entertainment. What is smart? I’m in this game to entertain. I’m not in this game to be smart, do you understand? The time is running out for people like us.”
Pulev: “Yeah.”
Chisora: “So for me to sit here and say, ‘I want to fight his guy, and the fight him and fight him.’ It’s a waste of time. I can’t wake up and train for that, bro. For you now, I can wake up and go and train hard and I really enjoy it. But if I have to fight some schmuck somewhere, I won’t be able to train. I’m going to roll the dice and go for it.”
Hearn: “I would have said after Parker, ‘Maybe get a nice win. Maybe let’s get a Jerry Forrest, maybe let’s get back into it,’ but not for you.”
Chisora: “No, it’s not for me, I don’t think so. If I’m in it, I’m in it. If I’m not in it, I’m not in it, to be honest with you. I don’t like easy. Easy is for people like him.”
Pulev: “I don’t like easy.”
Chisora: “You boxed easy with your last opponent [Jerry Forrest].”
Pulev: “When you fight against him, he gives you a lot of trouble, a lot of problems, trust me because you’re just war. You don’t make strategy, you don’t make nothing. You’re just war. When you make war, sometimes it’s not enough to say, ‘Let’s go.’ Sometimes, it’s not enough. For big things, it’s not enough. That’s why you lose to your good opponents always. You lost to Klitschko.”
Chisora: “Some of them, I was robbed.”
Hearn: “Do you have to be smart in this fight because you talk about war.”
Pulev: “I mean generally be smart. Not only this fight. Always. This fight I’m going to be best prepared and I’m going to win.”
Hearn: “No excuses this time, Kubrat??
Pulev: “I’m ready.”
Hearn: “You expect him to fight a cautious fight against you?”
Chisora: “He fights the same way. He’s going to fight cautiously on the back foot, trying to drag it out a little bit more, pick off shots.”
Hearn: “It’s your job to cut off the distance.”
Chisora: “My job is to cut off the distance and make it uncomfortable for me.”
Pulev: “He can’t fight at a distance, he can’t.”
Hearn: “He has to get close to you.”
Pulev: “I can fight everything. I can fight close, long-distance, and short distances. Do you feel good?”
Chisora: “Every day when I wake up, I feel good and I’m happy that I’m still sitting here looking at you face-to-face and I’m going to fight at the O2.”
Pulev: “This is very important to be every day thankful. You must want from yourself more.
Chisora: “I want. That’s why I’m saying I’m going to knock you out, man.”
Pulev: “No, no, no. You just say, ‘I knock him out.’ You try to tell me, no, no, no. You must change yourself, you must want from yourself more, you know? This is to be better tomorrow and after tomorrow more and more and more.”
Hearn: “Do you think he should retire? Because a lot of people say [that he should].”
Pulev: “I respect this, but he just stays at the same level. He prepares good and he just wants it to be a war, war, war.”
Hearn: “We want to see war, Kubrat.”
Pulev: “For sure, it’s going to be war.”
Chisora: “He’s going to box the same way he’s boxed his entire life. It’s the European style that way.”
Pulev: “This European style has upgrade, has new like a new Mercedes S-class, you know? Derek Chisora is like an Audi that stays the same. Stays the same.”
Chisora: “I don’t drive none of those cars at all. A small car.”
Hearn: “Well, July 9th finally, and Kubrat Pulev is very confident. There’s no doubt in your mind that you’ll defeat Derek Chisora at the O2, and your focus is again to challenge for the world heavyweight title.”
Pulev: “Yes, this is my focus, and, of course, I’m focused on this fight now because Derek is a good fighter. After this win, I’m going to fight for a world title.”
Hearn: “Derek, I don’t know if you want to fight for a world heavyweight title. You just want to fight.”
Chisora: “I just want to fight.”
Hearn: “The bets on, you’re confident that you beat Kubrat Pulev and you do it in a devastating fashion at the O2.”
Chisora: “I’m going to drop him. I swear to God I’m going to drop him.”
Hearn: “On July 9th, live DAZN a the O2 Arena. You’ve seen these guys over the years giving us great entertainment. They’re ready to do it all again in London.”
