By and large, it’s been a great year for the heavyweight division. We saw some excellent action when Dillian Whyte and Joseph Parker rumbled in July, we saw an amazing battle between Dereck Chisora and Carlos Takam on the same card, and we saw a good encounter between Anthony Joshua and Alexander Povetkin in September. Best of all, though, in terms of raw excitement, Deontay Wilder played his part in giving us two classics: his March stoppage win over danger-man Luis Ortiz, and then, last Saturday, that epic with Tyson Fury.
The controversial, it’s-got-everyone-talking draw saw an astonishing comeback from Fury, and the fight added more heat to the division. Next year promises to be sensational if Wilder and Fury do it again and if one, or even both, go on to fight Joshua. But that’s next year, there could be one more special heavyweight fight, one more slice of sizzling action to come before we wave goodbye to 2018.
December 22, the rematch: Dillian Whyte-Dereck Chisora II. Can this fight possibly let us down? Both men know they have to win, Chisora especially, the two Londoners have a healthy dislike for one another – and of course, fight-one was a barn-burner. The return fight and the likelihood of what it will bring has got many a fight fan excited. It’s yet another pay-per-view offering in a year that has been a pretty expensive one for boxing fans, but this one will be worth paying for.
Whyte,24-1(17) and Chisora, 29-8(21) really will have to go some if their fight is to top the spellbinding action we got in L.A on December 1st, as they will have to go some to top their own first battle (the Dec. 2016 war won by Whyte by the closest of decisions) – but there is something in the air when it comes to this rematch, something that suggests we will indeed see something special that Saturday night at The O2.
How much has Chisora got left? Will Whyte look past the fighter he says is not in his league as he eyes a world title shot? Will we see a KO or stoppage this time? Both men are willing to put it all on the line, to go through the hell they went through two years ago. Get ready for one more big bang before 2018 reaches its end.