DERECK CHISORA has shared the ring with every top British heavyweight. He’s boxed Tyson Fury twice, he will rematch Dillian Whyte on Saturday (December 22) and even did a sparring session with a young Anthony Joshua when he was amateur.
After Fury’s performance against Deontay Wilder earlier this month, Chisora rates Fury as the best heavyweight in the world currently.
“There are tiers; you have AJ, Fury and Wilder and with that last performance, Fury sits on top of everyone right now. Then there is Jarrell Miller, myself, Dillian and others. Everyone is trying to get to the top,” Chisora said.
“I put Tyson at number one. He is a beast.”
Chisora maintains he had a feeling Joshua was destined for the top. “I probably sparred him once. He was an amateur, he did well, fantastic jab, man. That was in the early days,” he said. “When I left Finchley, AJ was coming through. They said we have a big kid coming in.”
Then Joshua did seek some advice from Chisora. “He said, ‘How do I do it, man?’ I said, ‘You stay in the gym, man. If you stay in the gym it will pay off. If you give 20 minutes and go do something else, it won’t. stay in and do what you need to do.’ That was it. That was all I said to AJ,” Dereck recalled.
Chisora is far less impressed with the man he fights on Saturday. He gives Whyte little credit for beating Lucas Browne and Joseph Parker this year. “Browne didn’t fight three years because he was banned, came over a week before, jetlagged. He told me he hadn’t trained that, he would do what he could do. He had only done about five spars, seven rounds,” Chisora said. “Parker was given the WBO belt, he was nothing. How many defences? Dillian nearly lost in the last. Another round he was finished, so you can’t go praising those two fights. Dillian has improved? No Dillian is s***.”
