AS IS often the case these days when it comes to Derek Chisora, the 40-year-old heavyweight is smiling widely. โLife is easy man,โ he says, tilting his head back slightly. โLife is beautiful.โ
For Chisora, that might be the case as it stands, with one and ideally two more fights guaranteed for the man who seems incapable of walking away from this sport. But he knows that numbing day when he devolves from fighter to civilian is growing ever closer.
Suddenly, Chisora is back on the front foot. โSome reporters have said itโs time for me to hang them up,โ he says, fixing his eyes on this writer. โI bet youโre one of them, arenโt you? Youโre a f***ing liar.โ
Another grin. These days, Chisora never takes anything very seriously, except when he is paid to punch other men.
โSome fighters are weak,โ he presses on. โInstead of looking forward to their retirement, the moment they lose a fight they retire in their dressing room. Then they announce it and thatโs it, they donโt have a chance to say โgoodbyeโ. Then after a while, they want to do a comeback.
โMost fighters are depressed. So I said Iโll only come out when itโs the right time. I am coming out of the game on my own terms.โ
For him that means a half-century of fights, a milestone that very few modern fighters even get close to. Across 2020 and 2021, a run of three straight defeats, albeit to elite opposition in Oleksandr Uysk and Joseph Parker (twice), seemed to be opening the exit door on his career but a split decision victory over Kubrat Pulev in July 2022 kept the wheels in motion, just.
A beating at the hands of his friend Tyson Fury, their third fight as professionals, followed in December that year but it pushed him onto 33-13, just four fights shy of the 50. Points victories over Gerald Washington and Joe Joyce at the o2 moved him to 48 and now the finishing line is in sight; one more in the UK, one abroad next year, then out. Or so he says.
Today, Chisora stands in the bowels of the new Co-op Arena, Manchester to formally announce his UK swansong, with former Fury and Anthony Joshua victim Otto Wallin the man chosen for the assignment on February 8. This is, therefore, the final time he will attend a launch press conference for a fight in Britain.
โItโs emotional man,โ says Chisora from behind his strange trademark uniform of dark glasses and a red Make America Great Again hat. โI cried actually when they showed me the poster.
โAnd the other night I was asleep and our five-year-old comes in our bedroom at three oโclock in the morning saying โDaddy is cryingโ because I was crying in my sleep. In the morning she asked what I was crying for and I just said โitโs the last danceโ. Itโs very emotional for me.โ
It had been suggested that loudmouth American Jarrell Miller would be the opponent for this outing, Chisoraโs first at Manchesterโs new arena, which would have provided far more press conference fireworks than Wallin did. Ever respectful, the New York-based Swede refused to talk badly of Chisora, despite a run-in in Saudi Arabia last year.
The story goes that Chisora had told Wallin that he was about to get knocked out by Joshua when they met. Wallin then threatened to knock Chisora out instead. โThat was it,โ Chisora says of the minor beef. โNothing else.
โBut I do have worries with Wallin because heโs a very tall guy, heโs got a good jab and he likes to move round the ring a lot. But that makes me a bit more fearful when Iโm training and when Iโm getting ready for this fight. Iโm excited.โ
February also brings up exactly 18 years since Chisoraโs debut, a second-round stoppage of the Wolverhampton-based Hungarian Istvan Kecskes, who went 2-21-1 that night and never boxed again.
Since that outing at the Wembley Arena, Chisoraโs rollercoaster career has taken him to British, Commonwealth and European titles, a pair of defeats to Dillian Whyte and three to Fury, one of which was his second unsuccessful crack at the world heavyweight title. The first of those came way back in February 2012 when he dropped a points decision to Vitali Klitschko. It feels like a different lifetime.
โThere are just so many memories, man,โ says Chisora of his career. โItโs funny because itโs the ones when you come back home and you canโt eat food for a couple of days because youโve got cuts in your mouth. You think โI canโt do this anymoreโ.
โOr one time I finished a fight and my daughter said, โyouโre not retiring are you?โ I said โno Iโm notโ and sheโs like โyesss!โ I can see the joy in her eyes. But I have enjoyed every moment of it, the good, the bad, every moment of it, mate.โ
One of those bad moments came this month 14 years ago, when Chisora had put the finishing touches on a brutal training camp in Scotland before heading to Mannheim, Germany for his first shot at a Klitschko, younger brother Wladimir.
In the build-up, 26-year-old Chisora had said of the brothers: โI’m from the streets. I’m wiser than them. When we signed the contracts, Frank Warren said: ‘These guys are bastards.’ I said: ‘I’m more of a bastard than them.’ But at least we’ve signed the contract. The fight is on. But they are bastards. They were saying that if I say anything they’ll pull out. You know what? I don’t care.”
As it turned out, just three days before fight night, Klitschko pulled out with an abdominal injury and then, the following March, cancelled their rearranged date, too.
โIโve always felt about that fight,โ says Warren, who steered the heavyweight’s early career before Chisora sought pastures new. โThat when the late Emanuel Steward came in and saw what was going on with Chisora, I think he pulled him out. I genuinely believe that.
โBut Derek has been in some big fights with us, some really, really big ones. Heโs fought Fury, heโs fought Vitali Klitschko, and I thought he gave him his toughest fight since Lennox Lewis.
โDerek canโt be in a bad fight. Think about it. When have you seen him in a boring fight? Heโs brave and gives everything. He will have to do it again for this one and heโs 41 years of age in December. His ambition is to get to 50 fights and to do that he has to win this one. You want to get to 50? youโve got to win No.49.โ
But the truth is Chisoraโs career has shown that in this game, perhaps winning isnโt everything. When he faced Klitschko in 2012, he was 15-2. He lost that night, but his next outing was a money-spinning outdoor clash with David Haye at Upton Park.
In fact, it looked like it might all be over way back in November 2017 when he was beaten for the European title by Agit Kabayel, which was his third straight defeat over 12 rounds and moved him to 27-8. Now, seven years on, with 35 wins and more than half as many defeats, Chisora is one of the most loved British boxers of his era.
There is talk of Miller for No.50, even a Klitschko brother, but perhaps most likely, the man born in suburban Harare, will face the 0-2 Cameroonian Francis Ngannou somewhere in Africa. It is likely that not even a defeat to Wallin will scupper those plans.
โNgannou in Africa,โ Chisora says. โThatโs what I whispered to Frank so we will work on that.
โYou know when I left Frank, I told him Iโd finish my career with him. He was very upset but as time goes on people heal.โ
And now, for a man who has done more healing than most, life could be described as beautiful.