Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn seemed ambivalent when asked about his thoughts about Derek Chisora (33-12, 23 KOs) calling out Deontay Wilder for his next fight after his 12-round split-decision upset victory over Kubrat Pulev (29-3, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the O2 Arena in London.
While Hearn didn’t reject the idea of a Wilder-Chisora fight, he did say it was a “dangerous” fight for the 38-year-old Chisora, who wasn’t hard to hit tonight by the painfully slow Pulev, who looked much older than his 41 years.
Hearn said the fight that he would like to make for Chisora is a trilogy match against Dillian Whyte, noting that the two fighters’ previous two encounters were “good scraps.”
Chisora had just enough left in the tank tonight to edge the Bulgarian Pulev by the scores 116-114, 116-112 for Derek, and 116-112 for Kubrat. Chisora was staggered in the eighth round from a perfectly placed right uppercut by Pulev.
“I’m absolutely over the moon for Dereck Chisora. I don’t think there’s anybody that deserves it more, to be honest with you,” said Eddie Hearn to Fight Hub TV.
“It’s a tough fight,” said Hearn when asked if he would willingly allow Chisora to fight Deontay Wilder after the way Derek labored to a win over 41-year-old Pulev tonight.
“I don’t know what Wilder has got left after the Tyson Fury defeats, but he’s a very, very fast, shape puncher. It’s a dangerous fight, a very dangerous fight for Derek Chisora.
“It was a very tough fight, a grueling fight, scrappy at times, a war of attrition, and you just don’t have a war of attrition with Derek Chisora. It could have gone either way, but I’m delighted he finally got one.
“I thought he won by one or two rounds. I thought he won the last round, and that was a big round to win at that stage in the fight. But also, it could have gone either way. It could have gone either way.
“If he lost tonight? Probably because I love him, but he’s just beaten a top ten, top fifteen heavyweight in the world. So obviously he wants to continue, but we’ll see what fights are out there for him,” Hearn said when asked if he would have stopped placing Chisora on his cards if he had lost to Pulev tonight.
“I kind of like the Dillian Whyte III [against Chisora]. Those two are always going to have great scraps. So we’ll see what happens. Tonight, it’s about celebrating his victory.
“Maybe, it depends on how good our offer is,” said Hearn when asked if he thinks he’ll be able to work with Whyte again. “He’s going to look at all the offers and see which one is the best. No, I don’t think so,” said Hearn when asked if Whyte vs. Chisora III would be shown on DAZN pay-per-view.
“I was gutted by Madrimov-Soro. That was going to be such a great fight. A clash of heads, I actually thought when I saw the cut, they should have let that continue,” said Hearn.
