On December 22nd at the 02 Arena in London, heavyweight contender Dillian Whyte will be attempting to finally put to bed one of his most intractable rivalries when he collides with Dereck Chisora in a highly-anticipated rematch.
Two years ago, the bitter rivalry between the pair was compounded by heated physical pre-fight confrontations in addition to the gruelling, see-saw nature of the twelve rounds they shared, from which Whyte emerged victorious by the very slimmest of margins – a controversial split-decision.
The two former sparring partners are now poised to wage war once again with arguably even more at stake this time: a potential world title opportunity against Anthony Joshua at Wembley Stadium coupled with London bragging rights in front of a local audience of tens of thousands.
Harare-born Chisora, formerly based out of Finchley but now training in Vauxhall under the guidance of respected trainer Don Charles alongside new manager and mentor David Haye, is a seasoned veteran who has consistently undulated between gatekeeper and contender status since admirably falling short in his sole world title challenge seven years ago against then-WBC king Vitali Klitschko.
Meanwhile, Brixton’s Whyte – who has not yet fought for a world title – has racked up seven straight victories since his sole career defeat – a British title fight against Anthony Joshua in December 2015 – after swapping Johnathon Banks for Mark Tibbs, son of the venerable Jimmy Tibbs.
Their first encounter made for a terrifically competitive scrap; one that was considered the fight of the year by some as the two fighters traded leather with reckless abandon, connecting and hurting one another repeatedly with punishing shots and struggling to sustain the furious pace throughout the later rounds as the bout degenerated into something of a slugfest.
It was a relatively sloppy and messy performance from Whyte, someone who is now operating with renewed confidence, purpose and direction. After all, it can be argued that the Bodysnatcher is in a somewhat precarious position by agreeing to this rematch at this point of his career, especially with a long-awaited title shot against an old nemesis in sight. Nevertheless, the Bodysnatcher has every reason to believe that he has sharpened up his skills considerably, as exemplified by successive wins over Robert Helenius, Lucas Browne and Joseph Parker.
For Chisora, on the other hand, prospects of Whyte rematch seemed more improbable than ever one year ago, when he produced a lacklustre showing to lose by majority decision against the obscure Agit Kerebyal in Monaco. Nevertheless, in classic Chisora style, he rebounded, with a sensational upset knockout win – as he did five years ago against Malik Scott – felling Carlos Takam with a devastating right hand in after absorbing a tremendous amount of punishment over eighth rounds.
Whyte – and the majority of commentators – believe that he is sufficiently prepared to prevail more comfortably over Chisora this time round; that he is more experienced and will also be more explosive and more powerful. It is imperative for Whyte to capitalise on his size and strength advantages to overpower Chisora and prevent Del-Boy from nonchalantly rampaging forward and bullying Whyte in the manner that he did in December 2016.
Whether Whyte can put the punches together to stop Chisora in style, is a different matter altogether. It would certainly send out a statement to the rest of the division and following his inability to secure a fight with Deontay Wilder this summer, you would imagine that is precisely what Whyte intends to do.
Article by: Navi Singh
Follow Navi on Twitter at: @DarkMan________