Derek Chisora, 40, is one of boxing’s most likeable men with stunning CV, but I really hope he ‘does a Joe Biden’
DEREK CHISORA, at the age of 40, perhaps would have been much wiser if he had done a Joe Biden a couple of years ago and quit the heavyweight race.
The perfect time would have been immediately after Tyson Fury had given him a terrible ten-round belting in 2022.
It was another brutal defeat, one of 13 for Chisora in his riotous 17-year, 47-fight career.
He has endured a total of 135 torrid rounds against a mob of savage punchers.
They include Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, Fury (twice), Joseph Parker (twice), Kubrat Pulev (twice), David Haye and Oleksandr Usyk.
Zimbabwe-born Chisora has been one of the most successful, courageous and colourful characters to have graced British rings.
He has won British, Commonwealth and European titles and been a two-time world championship challenger.
When I told Chisora he should think seriously about hanging up his gloves, he said he would think about it.
It must have been a fleeting thought because Del Boy is still at it.
And, no doubt to the delight of his huge ringside following — who don’t take the punches — he tangles with Joe Joyce at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday.
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Derek said: “I listen to nobody — I’m my own boss. I make my own decisions and I do what I want to do.
“I only care to bring enjoyment to those hard-working people in this beautiful nation of ours.”
Chisora is an enigma and a maverick, and the fans love him.
He is a one-man soap opera, never far from chaos and controversy.
Chisora has received a suspended sentence for assaulting a girlfriend and bitten an opponent.
He slapped Vitali Klitschko’s face at their weigh-in in Munich and was arrested by German police for brawling with Haye after the fight.
He was also banned for throwing a table at Dillian Whyte before their bout.
Only last week he took his two daughters to lunch in Hampstead — and head-butted a motorbike delivery rider who was insane enough to attack him after a row outside the restaurant.
If this makes Chisora sound like an ogre, nothing could be further from the truth.
This religious, devoted father is liked by everyone who meets him.
He has fully earned the rapturous ovation he’s bound to receive when he makes his ring walk.
But I sincerely hope that, win, lose or draw against Joyce, he has the sense to make it his last.