Dereck Chisora is in a league of his own as far as being the toughest, most old-school, indeed throwback heavyweight, out there today. Chisora has proven time and again how he will literally fight anyone, no problem – be it Robert Helenius, Vitali Klitschko, Tyson Fury, David Haye, Dillian Whyte, Carlos Takam, Oleksandr Usyk, or Joseph Parker. Chisora doesn’t care. Nor does he care to even think about retiring after his latest heroic defeat, which came in that simply incredible war with Parker on Saturday night.
From many people there has been another call for Chisora to call it a career; the call this time louder than ever before. Chisora, who took some astonishing punishment in the Parker rematch yet kept battling back, somehow made it to the final bell (“how that went 12 rounds, I will never know,” Eddie Hearn said of Parker-Chisora II, adding how Chisora “is not human!”) And now Chisora is planning his next fight.
Speaking with IFL TV in his first proper interview since the Parker loss, the 37 year old born warrior said he has no time for “negative vibes.”
“Go away and don’t watch,” Chisora said to those people who say he should retire.
“I lost a fight – big deal. People lose and people win,” Chisora said. “That’s it, that’s life. What can we say? Everyone’s got something to say. People sit and write about other people, about their mistakes and their career – because they haven’t got anything better to do. I’m happy. I’m living my best life right now. I will not fight until I’m 40. I don’t know yet [when I will retire] – I’m still in the game, I enjoy it. Do you know why people get punchy? It’s not because of the fight in the ring. Fighters get punchy when they do so many rounds in sparring. People get punchy in the gym, not in the ring.”
Chisora, 32-12(23) has made his mind up, no doubt about it, and he does make an interesting point regarding how some fighters do too much sparring and that this leads to brain trauma. That said, here’s the question he doesn’t want to hear, again: should Chisora fight on? “War” is beyond caring what people say or think, that much is clear, but where does Chisora go from here? Honestly, can Chisora beat an elite heavyweight at age 37? If not, then why go on? Chisora says he loves fighting, the training, the life, everything, and he says we will “never understand.”
No, we won’t. Chisora is living in a free country and he can do what he wishes to do. But we mortals will be unable not to worry if Chisora again takes the kind of sustained punishment he took in the Parker battle on Saturday. And there is, worryingly, talk of Chisora perhaps facing Deontay Wilder next year. That might prove to be the one fight too many. Let’s all hope not.
