By Sam Volz: Derek Chisora says he wants a big payday fight against Deontay Wilder or another notable heavyweight following his lackluster 12-round split decision win over second-tier fighter Kubrat Pulev last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
The question is, does Chisora deserve a golden parachute to give him a soft landing into his retirement years, or has he failed to do enough to rate that kind of royalty treatment?
After the fight, Chisora let the crowd know that he only has a couple of fights left before he retires, and he then asked promoter Eddie Hearn to hook him up with a Wilder fight.
Chisora also talked of wanting to be paid like Conor Benn, a fighter that is making excellent money for Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing promotion without ever having captured a world title or beaten anyone of ranked in the top tier.
With some fans viewing the Chisora-Pulev fight as a robbery and many others seeing it as a draw, you can’t say that the 38-year-old Chisora (33-12, 23 KOs) deserves a massive payday fight after that performance.
Typically, you don’t see journeymen getting put into fights where they earn millions, so it’s hard to feel sympathy for Chisora if he fails to get his hoped for golden parachute.
“I’ve fought him twice now. I don’t need to fight him a third time,” said Chisora at the post-fight press conference when asked about a trilogy with Pulev.
“It’s been two years since I won since David Price. AJ must have some serious power because I hit that guy [Pulev and couldn’t knock him out].”
“He’s capable of doing anything he wants,” said Eddie Hearn about Chisora. “He wants Deontay Wilder. I still like Dillian Whyte 3. There’s [Chris] Arreola, [Adam] Kownacki. He wants the biggest fights for the most amount of money.
“Also, they love him here,” said Hearn when asked about the possibility of bringing Chisora to the U.S. “It was an incredible atmosphere at the O2 tonight, Manchester or wherever he fights, they love him.
“Listen, he wants the biggest opportunities out there. We should look at the right fights with him and 258 and everybody. It’s a big win tonight, I huge win,” said Hearn.
“Listen, I’ll fight anybody. It depends on what I’m getting paid. “It depends on the zeros we have on the check,” said Chisora when asked what kind of names he’s looking at for his next fight. It’s about money; it’s not about anything else.
“‘You’re fighting so and so, and you’re getting paid this.’ ‘Okay, cool. Give me more zeros, and let’s rock & roll.’ Everybody that trains me wants to get paid. There’s no need in trying to fight if you’re not getting paid.
“I don’t want an easy fight,” said Chisora about his next bout. “I’m in the fighting game, bro.
“It’s war! I tell everybody, I enjoy this game. I love it, the pain and the ups and downs. I love the wrong decisions,” said Chisora to Boxing UK following his win over Kubrat Pulev. “It’s a hard game. You have to be mentally prepared to be in this game. I love this game. I’m not retiring yet,” said Chisora.
