It will be 41-year-old British favorite Derek Chisora’s penultimate fight on Saturday night in Manchester. “War,” as warrior Chisora is known, will face tall southpaw Otto Wallin, this before he aims to sign off with a 50th fight later on this year. And Chisora admits he “hates southpaws” but that he will “have to deal with it.”
Chisora says the only way 34-year-old Wallin – beaten only by Tyson Fury (on points) and Anthony Joshua (by 5th-round stoppage) – can beat him is by scoring a knockout. But this, Chisora is adamant, will not happen. Chisora says he is going to “break” Wallin.
“I hate southpaws, the guy who’s beaten us about four times in the UK, Oleksandr Usyk [is a southpaw]. I hate southpaws, but I’m gonna have to deal with it either way,” Chisora said, as quoted by Ring. “The only way he can win this fight is by him knocking me out, but he hasn’t got that dog in him. I’m not in the mood yet because I don’t want to waste energy, but tomorrow you’ll see a different character. I love fighting, Otto knows I’m nuts. People know I’m crazy, when it tell you stuff I really mean it. I’m gonna break him, I’m gonna break his heart, I’m gonna break him mentally. I’m telling you right now, I’m gonna break that guy. I’m gonna smoke that mother f****r!”
Chisora, 35-13(23), says that while he doesn’t hate Wallin, he wants to hurt him. “I wanna physically hurt that man, but I don’t hate him,” he said. A most intense character when going into a fight, and of course, during it, Chisora makes a real transformation when he’s in fight mode. But how many times can Chisora keep pushing himself through tough, hard fights? Chisora is hoping he can do it two more times before he finally waves goodbye to the sport that will miss him and that he himself will likely miss terribly.
What will Chisora do when he hangs up the gloves and can no longer do the thing he loves to do, and that’s fight? Who knows. But all those fans who appreciate Chisora and respect him for all he’s done for boxing are hoping the British legend can punch out two more wins and then retire and stay retired for keeps.
