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By: Hans Themistode
Dereck Chisora has built a name for himself over the years.
He’s been known as a brash, loud mouthed Heavyweight contender. For as much as his fans love him, his personality has rubbed just about everyone that he has stepped inside of the ring with the wrong way.
Calling him a jerk would be somewhat of a compliment as most of his opponents would describe him as an asshole.
Just take a look at his long history of stirring up controversy.
Chisora’s 2016, press conference for his first match against Dillian Whyte quickly turned into a WWE contest as he hurled a table right at his opponents head. In 2019, Chisora went back and forth with Regis Prograis regarding who should be headlining the October 26th, show. That doesn’t sound like much of an issue right? Well, when you consider that Chisora outweighs his man by roughly 100 pounds, then you’ll quickly see the problem.
How about his 2012 contest with David Haye? Most fighters who decide to get into shouting matches with their opponents usually keep their hands to themselves. Yet in this case, both men got the fight going early.
To sum it all up, Chisora has a way of getting under the skin of his opponents.
So now that he has officially signed up to fight former Cruiserweight contender Oleksandr Usyk at the O2 Arena, Chisora has been surprisingly nice. Maybe a little too nice.
“He’s a funny guy, he loves life, he likes everything,” said Chisora during a recent press conference. “He’s a boy’s boy. He’s cool. I can’t really say anything bad about this man. He’s done so much in four years. He’s done great for himself. He’s amazing, I’m a big fan of his.”
This is pretty new. Chisora has never been known as the sort of fighter to be so complimentary. But after a few minutes went by during the conference, we quickly found out why.
“It’s going to be hard, I’m not going to lie to you. I think this fight will be the hardest fight I’ve ever had. Not because the guy hasn’t got power, but because of the accuracy of his punches and the way he chucks them. When he chucks them he’s unbelievable.”
Vitali Klitschko, David Haye, Kubrat Pulev, Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte are amongst the long list of champions and top tier contenders that have stepped into the ring with Chisora. So what makes the former undisputed Cruiserweight champion different from the rest?
“He’s going to be dancing bro. He’s going to be dancing. Where can you get guys who can be sparring like him? Nowhere. The guy is a dancer. He’s going to dance. I’m already taking dancing lessons. The guy is going to be on fire, man. I’m going to have to eat leather, I’m not going to lie to you. I’m going to eat leather. I’m probably going to take five before I get one in there, but it is what it is. I eat that shit for breakfast. The hunger remains and the dedication is the same.”
