By Jake Tiernan: Dereck Chisora stubbornly refuses to retire after a lackluster win over 41-year-old Gerald Washington last Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
Chisora has a reported net worth of $15 million, so he doesn’t need to keep fighting, but with the dough, he’s getting from fighting on Matchroom cards on DAZN, it’s hard for him to walk away.
If he’s getting half a million to a million for fighting lesser opposition like Gerald Washington & Kubrat Pulev, why should he retire?
The average person isn’t going to make that kind of money, so you can understand why Chisora doesn’t want to hang up his gloves quite yet. Until the oil well goes dry, Chisora will likely continue fighting.
British promoter Eddie Hearn is empowering the 39-year-old journeyman Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) by continuing to put him in well-paying spots high on his cards rather than burying him at the bottom, which is arguably where he should be fighting, given how shot he is.
It’s got to be tough for Hearn, though, because he obviously knows that he’s extremely limited regarding the opposition he can put Chisora in with. If Hearn matches Chisora with any of these heavyweights, it would end badly for him:
– Jared Anderson
– Martin Bakole
– Filip Hrgovic
– Deontay Wilder
– Andy Ruiz Jr
– Arslanbek Makhmudov
– Zhilei Zhang
– Joe Joyce
– Daniel Dubois
– Otto Wallin
This is obviously just a short list. You could throw 15-25 additional heavyweights to that list that Hearn couldn’t use to fight with Chisora because he would get massacred.
Whether Chisora could beat a British domestic-level fighter like Johnny Fisher is questionable. He’s not very good but might have too much power for Chisora. A few moments were problematic last night when Gerald Washington let his hands go.
Chisora beat the ring rusty Washington (26-6-1, 13 KOs) by a ten round unanimous decision on the Anthony Joshua vs. Robert Helenius card. The scores were 97-94, 98-93, and 96-94.
Should Chisora retire?
“Everybody always asks that. Don’t worry about that. I’ll make something,” said Dereck Chisora to iFL TV when asked ‘what are your plans now?’ following his victory over 41-year-old Gerald Washington last Saturday night.
“It’s not retirement yet. No, no, no, I’m not stopping. F**k off. Not yet. It’s not time yet. Look at my kids. Everybody enjoying life. My kids are playing. It’s beautiful. I get punched, they play, it’s cool.”
If Chisora is not going to retire, Hearn needs to get value for the money he’s paying him because he can’t continue to artificially keep his career going by feeding him fodder opposition.
Hearn should match Chisora against Arslanbek Makhmudov, Jared Anderson, or Zhilei Zhang to see what happens.
“That’s what we do. I will go to war for my kids. I will die for my daughters. I will die for my mother. I don’t know if I will die for my wife because if I die for her, she might marry some other guy,” said Chisora.
“You will give your daughter your kidney or your lungs. That’s what we’re talking about. It’s not quite sad. It’s what I know. If I knew how to be a gardener, I would be a gardener from day one, but I’m a fighter. This is what we know.
“You can’t decide to tell a fighter, ‘You’ve got to stop fighting now because you’re going to be a gardener.’ No, we don’t know that s**t. From day one, we’re fighting in the amateur games and then the pro. This is what we know.
“We don’t know how to type on a computer or be a receptionist. We don’t know that. We are fighters. Every fighter retires, and when they retire, guess what they do? They go back to the gym and start training other fighters,” said Chisora.
Dereck has three more fights
“I’ll be honest with you. I’ve got three more fights, and then I’m out. I want to get to 50. Is that alright? I’ll do the f**k I want because you know why? I’m war,” said Chisora.
“That will give him so much confidence,” said Chisora about Anthony Joshua’s seventh round knockout win over Robert Helenius last Saturday night. “Joshua’s first fight with Usyk was hard. The second one was hard. His come backtrail was very hard.
“He did have faith in that right hand, and today, you found it, and now you’ll see now from round one, he’s going to deliver now. I’m f**king proud of him, bro. A little bit was missing. That confidence barrier, he’s got it now. You’ll see. AJ, I’m proud of you,” said Chisora.
