Dereck Chisora is in denial about his heavyweight headliner clash against Joe Joyce being a “crossroads” one for the both of them on July 27th at the O2 Arena.
Crossroads Fight for Aging Heavyweights
The reality is that the 40-year-old Chisora (34-13, 23 KOs) is at a point where he cannot afford to lose this fight. Neither of these two aging heavyweights are spring chickens, but the 38-year-old Joyce is levels above where Chisora is currently operating, and this has mismatch written all over it.
‘War’ Chisora has come up short in three out of his last five fights, and many boxing fans believe he should have retired after his friend, former WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, who some feel is almost a shot as he is, gave Derek an undeserving world title in December 2022.
Chisora had lost two out of three fights before Fury blessed him to challenge him for his WBC title. Fury took a lot of heat for giving Chisora a title shot, given his recent 1-2 record, but after watching how bad Tyson looked last weekend, I can understand what that fight was all about. Chisora was safe for him.
Joyce’s Redemption Arc
Joyce is coming off of two defeats against Zhilei Zhang, and there’s no shame in loosing to a fighter like that. If Joyce had wheels to run around the ring the way Joseph Parker did, he would have beaten Zhang as well because the two-time Olympian can’t deal with movement and his stamina is poor.
“It’s going to be a good fight because Joe don’t go backwards, I don’t go backwards. So what I’m thinking is by the time we finish the fight, someone is going to have less brain cells left in their brain,” said Dereck Chisora to during the press conference for his fight against Joe Joyce on July 27th at the O2 Arena in London.
“I hope that’s not the case,” said promoter Frank Warren.
“That is the case, let’s be honest,” said Chisora.
“I just hope you got something to start out with,” said Warrren. “This is a crossroads for both of you.”
“Not for me, I’m alright,” said Chisora.
“We’ll see. In my opinion, you can’t afford to lose it and Joe can’t afford to lose it,” said Warren. “I know there’s a lot at stake for you and you know that better than me.
“It’s a big fight. I know Joe is going to come and I’m going to come,” said Chisora.
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