First there was some talk that Derek Chisora might fight Moses Itauma in his scheduled December “50th and out fight.” Then Zhilei Zhang’s name came into play, then Jarrell Miller was the front-runner for the fight that will see “War” end his long, entertaining, up and down career. Now, as per David Haye, who spoke with The Daily Mail, a fight has been signed for December 13 in Manchester, and Chisora will in fact face old rival Dillian Whyte in his career finale – this in a third fight between the two.
“Talking about fights we’ve always wanted, it’s Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte III, for Derek’s last fight,” Haye said. “I was chatting to him last night. It’s confirmed. He’s buzzing. They agreed terms like gentlemen, everyone’s happy with the split, and it’s going to be a fun one. It’s like Gatti-Ward. No matter what stage (of their careers) they’re at, whenever these two fight, it’s going to be a war. From the first bell, they’ll be going at it. That’s what makes it so special.”
Whyte vs Chisora III: The Perfect Farewell Fight?
If Haye is right here, and this fight is in fact a done deal (and Haye seems dead certain about what he has said), this is indeed a fight that seemingly cannot help but be a good one to watch. Whyte is 2-0 over Chisora, with him having stopped Chisora late on in their second fight, but the action was savage, back and forth stuff all the way until the ending, while the first fight was so very close as well as brutal, with Whyte just edging his fellow Brit on points.
But those fights were a long time ago, the first one taking place back in 2016, and Whyte, 31-4(21) and 37 years of age to Chisora’s age 41, seems to have aged as a fighter far more than Chisora has. We saw what happened to Whyte last time out, when he was wiped out in a round by the aforementioned Itauma; while before that fight, Whyte struggled to halt Ebenezer Tetteh (in another fun fight, it must be said).
A Farewell Fit for “War”
Chisora, 36-13(23) is coming off a good win over Otto Wallin and he may well get the win over Whyte this time around. A third dance with Whyte does make sense as far as Chisora’s last fight, as he is not being overmatched and he is not in any real danger of being hurt in his goodbye fight. That said, the action was fierce in the first two battles Chisora had with Whyte, and as Haye said, these two bring something out in each other. Look for another memorable slugfest if Whyte and Chisora do meet again in December.