Veterans Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder will both be contesting their 50th professional fight when they meet at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.
Wardley’s Perspective on Chisora’s Future
Fabio Wardley mooted that whether Chisora beats Deontay Wilder or not on Saturday, he’d like to see him retire. After all the entertainment he has given us, he deserves to sit down and have five minutes to himself.
Wardley noted that it’s a difficult decision for anyone. It’s hard to go out on a loss because you want to end your career on a high, but then once you do end on a high, you think, ‘well, if I did that, maybe I can do one more’. According to Wardley, it can become a never-ending cycle of ‘maybe one more’.
As a fellow fighter, Wardley stated he has concerns for boxers in every fight. Wardley said that you see people in their first 10 bouts where something dramatic can happen, or in their last 10. It’s a risk no matter where you are at with your career.
With someone like Derek though, not many people are going to be able to tell him when he should stop. He’s going to dictate his own time and terms.
Wardley stated that we can have all the concerns we want about his wellbeing, but Derek will be Derek and do what he wants.
Wardley’s Respect for Chisora
Wardley stated he’s spent a lot of time with Derek over the years. They did plenty of sparring very early on in Wardley’s career. Since then, Wardley sees him around all the time because Derek is absolutely everywhere – at every show and every event.
He has always been congratulatory of Wardley, almost proud of him in a sense. Wardley remembers when he won his British title, Chisora was one of the first people to FaceTime him the next morning to say well done.
Wardley noted that Chisora was also one of the only people, aside from his own team, who backed him going into both the Joseph Parker and Daniel Dubois fights. He’s always been on Wardley’s side, so he’s got a lot of love and respect for him.
The Surprise Matchup and Chisora’s Momentum
When Wardley first heard about Chisora taking on Wilder, he was honest, it was quite a surprise.
It seemed like both guys had bigger fish to fry – there was talk of Derek getting a world-title shot against Wardley, and Wilder was being lined up by Oleksandr Usyk.
Pulling away from those possibilities to fight each other was random, but the more Wardley thought about it, the more it made sense.
This has that intriguing dynamic of two guys with 50 fights each. For Wardley, it’s really a question of who’s still got what in the tank.
Wardley believes the momentum is with Derek. He’s been in with more lively opponents, proving himself better. He’s still got the energy, the durability and the power to deal with opponents and give them problems.
Former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder has lost four times in his past six fights.
With Wilder, he’s been a bit more up and down – you’ve seen good, you’ve seen bad.