Fringe heavyweight contender/journeyman Derek Chisora (35-13, 23 KOs) weighed in at 259.7 lbs, while his opponent Otto Wallin (27-2, 15 KOs) came in at a slimmer 239.1 pounds at Friday’s weigh-in for their 12-round IBF title eliminator this Saturday, February 8th at the Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, England.
Desperate for a Title Shot
The winner of the Chisora-Wallin fight will be mandatory for the IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois. That’s hard to believe because the 41-year-old Chisora has lost two out of his last five fights, and his three wins have come against old, prime heavyweights similar to himself.
The ages of Chisora’s last three wins: 39, 42 and 43. Those victories came against Joe Joyce, Gerald Washington, and Kubrat Pulev. Chisora has another vulnerable opponent in front of him with the 34-year-old Wallin, who was recently stopped in five rounds by Anthony Joshua on December 23, 2023.
Chisora isn’t capable of doing the things that AJ did to Wallin, especially at his age. Wallin, 6’5 1/2″, is too tall and too good a boxer for a slow, lumbering Chisora to knock him out or win a decision unless it’s questionable, like his victory over Pulev. That looked like a robbery.
“He’s fighting irregularly these days, but he’s still in with a chance. I think he beats Wallin,” said Barry McGuigan to talkSport Boxing about his prediction of a Derek Chisora victory over the much younger Otto Wallin on Saturday night. “I think he can overwhelm and stop him, and if he does, he’ll get a shot at the [IBF] world title again [against Dubois].
“If he does, then I hope he can say, ‘Now, I’ll walk away from it.’ It worries me that guys go on too long. Not just for them. It’s not good for the sport. I just wonder how much he has left. How much of the fire in the belly does he have left,” McGuigan said about Chisora.
“It’s money. I know he beat Joyce, and if he defeats [Wallin], he has an opportunity to fight for a world title again.”
Last Updated on 02/07/2025
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