Chisora vs Scott: Is Malik the real deal? Can Chisora get back to winning ways?

By Boxing News - 07/18/2013 - Comments

scott38By Thomas Cowan: This Saturday, unbeaten American heavyweight Malik Scott faces former world title challenger Dereck Chisora in Chisora’s backyard, London, United Kingdom. Despite the fact Chisora (16-4) has almost half the fights that Scott (35-0-1) has had, it is Scott who is taking the step up in class.

Scott drew with a limited Vyacheslav Glazkov in his last fight. Scott dominated the fight and should have won comfortably but somehow one judge had the Ukranian winning and one had it a draw. Glazkov claimed he won the fight but in my experience a fighter who smiles and raises his fist in celebration when a draw is announced is not a fighter who felt he won.

There’s not much to say about Scott’s other opponents, he’s been facing the same kind of fodder that Deontay Wilder has been fighting. If you’ve had 36 fights unbeaten and you’re still nowhere near a title shot, then you’ve been matched extremely carefully. Tyson Fury hasn’t faced great opponents but he’s very close title shot after only 21 fights so nobody should really need more than 25 wins to get a title shot.

I’d like to see all the American heavyweights such as Seth Mitchell, Tony Thompson, Wilder, Bryant Jennings and Scott facing each other. If one of those fighters could get two or three wins against the others, that would establish them as the best heavyweight in America. Those are the fighters Scott should be looking to face if he gets past Chisora, as well as possibly settling the score with Glazkov. Wilder is the most heavily hyped because of his huge right hand but I don’t believe he could land anything on slick fighters like Scott or Jennings, who are the two fighters I rate as the best American heavyweights, although I wouldn’t count out Tony Thompson, who has shown he still has something to give.

As for Chisora, this is pretty much a make-or-break fight for him. He’s lost 4 of his last 6 fights and if that becomes 5 out of 7 on Saturday then he’s going to be seen as a journeyman by a lot of boxing fans. However, in Chisora’s defence he was robbed when he lost to Robert Helenius in Finland and he gave Vitali Klitschko a tougher fight than anyone else has for ten years. I know that seems like an exaggeration but I challenge you to find another fighter that’s won two rounds against Vitali since Lennox Lewis beat him in 2003.

Chisora’s other losses were at the hands of fellow Brits Tyson Fury and David Haye. Against Fury, Chisora turned up out of shape and even outweighed Fury, a man 7 inches taller than Chisora. Chisora rocked Fury in the second round but looked gassed after the fourth and lost a wide decision. In his grudge match against Haye, Chisora turned up even fatter and was stopped by a brutal Haye combination in the 5th round. Whether an in shape Chisora would have been able to win thise fights is debatable but he may never know now. If he can beat Scott, Chisora has a few options. Robert Helenius would might give him a rematch if the money was right and so might Tyson Fury if he loses to David Haye, which most expect him to.

As far as prediction for this fight goes, it’s tough to call. Scott is a better boxer, he’s got faster hands than Chisora, he has a great jab and he’s extremely hard to hit. However, his chin hasn’t really been been tested and nobody knows how he’s going to cope with fighting in a foreign country. If Chisora can pressure Scott and force him out of his comfort zone then he could cause real problems.

Prediction – Scott wins by a close decision



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