Promoter Frank Warren has joined the long list of people that believe British heavyweight Dereck Chisora should retire following his punishing 12 round unanimous decision loss to Joseph Parker last Saturday night.
The 37-year-old Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) took a oneway beating from former WBO heavyweight champion Parker (30-2, 21 KOs), hitting the deck three times en route to losing by the dreadfully poor scores of 114-112, 115-111 and 115-110.
If you’re being kind to the war-horse Chisora, he fought well enough to win three of the twelve rounds, but that was only when Parker was resting after knocking the living daylights out of Dereck in the previous rounds.
Like many, Warren is concerned about the punishment Chisora is now taking in his fights catching up to him when he eventually decides to hang up his gloves.
Interestingly, Chisora isn’t hurting for money, yet he insists on continuing his sagging career. According to reports, Chisora’s net worth is estimated to be between $5-8 million, and that’s a lot of dough for a fighter that has NEVER won a heavyweight world title.
Dereck is already talking about returning to the ring in the spring, and he has a defiant attitude towards those who feel he should retire. He says if they don’t want to watch him, they don’t have to, but he will fight anyway.
The real question is how much longer will Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn keep placing him on his cards for headliner events on DAZN?
Chisora hasn’t won a fight in two years since his victory over Artur Szpilka in 2019, and he’s lost his last three contests. At some point, it’s going to be forlorn to watch Chisora being trotted out to lose yet again.
Chisora’s corner should have stopped it
“It was an OK fight to watch, there was nothing wrong with the fight, but it was the level that it was at,” said Frank Warren to iFL TV on Dereck Chisora’s match last Saturday night against Joseph Parker.
“For Dereck, I thought his corner could have pulled him out,” Warren continued. “He took a lot of punishment in that fight. You can’t keep [taking punishment] doing that.
“If you keep doing that continually in fights, and we know about being brave and walking forward and all that stuff. That comes back to haunt you in later in your life, fights like that and the sparring and preparation for fights, all those things. It’s not good for you.
“What is he, 38 now?” asked Warren about Chisora’s age. “If he wants to fight one of my guys, I’ll take it in a heartbeat, but really, he should be calling it a day.
“Where is he now? He’s a gatekeeper, isn’t he? He hasn’t had a win for two years now. Well, if I were Deontay Wilder, I’d take it in a heartbeat,” said Warren when told that Chisora is interested in fighting former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder next.
When you’re a trainer, there’s a certain amount of fear involved when you have to decide whether to throw in the towel for a famous fighter like Chisora.
What happens if Chisora gets angry about being pulled out? Does he dump the trainer? We all saw what happened with one of Deontay Wilder’s trainers Mark Breland when he threw in the towel to save him from taking a beating in his rematch with Tyson Fury in 2020. Wilder promptly fired Breland.
The punishment will catch up to Chisora
“I saw afterward, what is Eddie Hearn saying, ‘These guys, they want to fight.’ I know they want to fight, but your job, my job, and the Board of Control’s job is to know WHEN they should stop fighting,” Warren said of Chisora.
“Danny Williams is a prime example of that. I stopped him from fighting. That was it, no more. I stopped him from fighting. I know he went abroad and was fighting on these Eastern European countries and so forth, but you shouldn’t be fighting.
“It’s beyond doubt this will catch up to you when you’re older, and he’s got money now, Dereck,” Warren said. “He must have money. He’s got money, and he wants to be able to remember where the money is and what bank it’s in, and so forth.
“So, if I was him, he’s had a good career, and he’s had some good shots. He had a great fight against [Vitali] Klitschko. He gave Klitschko the toughest fight he had in many, many years. In my opinion, retire.
“If he wants to fight one of my guys, I’ll take it. For me, him against Joe Joyce or Daniel [Dubois], those are good fights for my guys, and bad fights for him but good fights for my guys,” said Warren about Chisora.
If Chisora sticks around much longer, he could wind up in bad shape when he does retire one of these days. In Chisora’s last three fights, he’s taken a lot of heavy punishment against Parker and Oleksandr Usyk. Yeah, Chisora was competitive in those three fights, but he looked ancient and much older than his chronological age of 37.