Despite being aged 42, Derek Chisora is on one of the best runs of his career.
Chisora has won three straight – equalling his longest winning streak in a decade – and has the opportunity to make it four when he faces former WBC heavyweight titleholder Deontay Wilder in his hometown of London on April 4.
With such momentum behind him, Chisora says he still has goals that motivate him. Just not the ones that people might expect.
“My biggest goal right now is to walk my kids down the aisle when they get married – that's the biggest goal right now, nothing else,” said Chisora, referencing his two daughters, who are aged six and 11. “Forget anything else. I just want to see my kids get married one day.”
The “Del Boy” of yesteryear, who once brawled at a press conference with David Haye, slapped Vitali Klitschko at a face-off and has been responsible for many other memorable pre and post-fight antics, was replaced by a more measured Chisora in New York.
During Monday morning’s staredown with Wilder in Times Square, his only trash talk was reserved for the unseasonable cold in New York City – a prolonged deep freeze that had both fighters shivering.
“New York is so cold that I'm outside, I run back inside – I'm still cold when I'm inside because my jacket has got a coldness from the outside,” he said, by then inside a warm hotel conference room.
Chisora says he doesn’t feel the need to trash talk his opponents now because the public already knows him and what he is capable of in the ring.
“I think when you do 50 fights, there's nothing else to say to sell the fight – people know what they're gonna get,” he said. “The older I got, I don't do no more antics. Yes, I might drop some couple bars once in a while, but the craziness has gone away and the whole violent situation is out the window. But what I can definitely promise your viewers is that that day is going to be amazing.”
There is still reason to believe that Chisora will have something to look forward to in the fight with Wilder, 40 and of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. While Chisora did not specifically mention retirement, Amer Abdallah of MF Pro, which will promote the show at The O2 Arena, says Chisora expects to hang his gloves up after this bout.
“In what he's told me, this is his final fight; he had his last one in Manchester, and now he wants this last one; he wants to go out in London in O2,” said Abdallah, whose company is co-promoting the event with Queensberry Promotions, who promote Chisora. “Derek, over the last three fights, it almost feels like he found a fountain of youth coming back. He's kind of turned back the clock.”
For what may be his swansong, Chisora is facing a version of Wilder, who has not been in as dangerous form as he was when he reigned as a heavyweight titleholder from 2015 to 2020, while making 10 successful title defenses. Wilder last fought in June, when stopping Tyrrell Herndon in seven rounds, which got him back on the winning side after losing successive fights. Still, even if Wilder has not been as impressive of late, Chisora knows the danger he presents.
“If you see a poisonous snake, you don't want to go and try to rough it up, because it don't matter how old it is, if he bites you, you're gonna die,” he said. “Even if they put an old lion with two legs in here right now, we'll be running out that door.
“So what I'm trying to say is this, yeah, it don't matter what's happened in the past. I'm going in there with a pound for pound, biggest puncher in the last 100 years of boxing, because this guy can knock anybody out like that.
“I know what this guy can do. So they don't call it ‘Bomb Squad’ for no reason. He'll blow you up.”
Chisora’s past 14 fights, including the second of his attempts at the heavyweight title, in 2022, against Tyson Fury, have been in England. He has never fought in the United States, and says he would have liked to have done so in the past.
“I would have loved to fight here, but it's not gonna happen,” he said. “Listen, it's difficult to fight here. The fans are totally different. The fans here sit and watch the fight. In London, they punch with you when you punch, so that's exciting.”
As he reflects on his career, he muses about how he has fought two generations of heavyweights, including Vitali Klitschko and Fury, and on to the reigning heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. He figures that British heavyweight boxing will be in a good place for years to come, with champions like WBO titleholder Fabio Wardley and other top fighters, though he doesn’t think that the Americans will pose as much of a threat as they once did.
“Boxing in the United Kingdom will be amazing,” he said. “You got Daniel Dubois; Moses Itauma; Lawrence Okolie… and there's a couple other young heavyweights coming up. So boxing in the United Kingdom is great. What America needs to do is get ready for those guys. But right now, there's no one that can actually bother United Kingdom in boxing in America, because half of the fighters you guys have don't really want to fight.”
While April 4 may be the final time Chisora steps into the ring, he still promises to live up to his “War” nickname against Wilder.
“It’s gonna be a good fight… until I stop him,” he said.
