As fans may recall, British warhorse Derek Chisora said a while back that, after his 50th pro fight, he will finally call it quits and walk away from the sport he has given so much of himself to. Chisora, aged 41, is currently 36-13(23) and this means that if he sticks to his promise, he will have one more fight – this against TBA – before walking into the sunset.
However, in “War’s” last fight, this a decent 12-round decision win over Otto Wallin, the victor won himself an IBF heavyweight eliminator. As crazy as it may be, Chisora, with the win over Wallin, put himself in line for a shot at a world title. And it’s ever so hard to walk away from the sport you love when a world title chance is in the offing.
In terms of Chisora getting a shot at Daniel Dubois, who holds the IBF heavyweight title, the warrior from London will have to wait a while, to see if Dubois can get the big win in his July 19 rematch with Oleksandr Usyk; who holds all the other heavyweight titles. Joseph Parker, the WBO mandatory challenger, is next up in the rotation system, so this means the Usyk-Daniel Dubois winner must face the New Zealander next.
And Frank Warren, Chisora’s promoter, has said he thinks Chisora will fight in the meantime as he awaits his shot at the IBF belt. And this means Chisora could decide to stick around a little longer should he win his 50th fight.
“No, I think he will fight before then,” Warren said to Talk Sport when asked if he thinks Chisora will just sit and wait for his IBF title opportunity. “We will see what happens, boxing is an unusual business, it is always changing and evolving. But it is exciting, and this heavyweight division is exciting. I wish he [Chisora] would stop at 50, but you never know. He might just want to [fight 51 times]. I would prefer it if he retires.”
But again, it must be tough for Chisora to be willing to walk away when he knows there is a really good chance, amazingly enough, that he could be fighting for a world title sometime over the coming months. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Chisora break his vow, especially if he looks good and feels good in that 50th fight, whoever it proves to be against.
And what a story it would be if Chisora, in his final fight, challenged for a world title! We may not see the end of Chisora this year. But as Warren says, he, and lots of other people, would prefer to see Chisora retire. Del has, as we know, always been his own man.