Derek Chisora suffered a sustained beating at the hands of Tyson Fury this weekend, proving that having no quit in you isn’t always a blessing.
Ever since the fight was announced, fans had complained about the matchmaking. What played out in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was still jarring.
From the first bell until the stoppage the WBC Champion controlled every aspect of the action, wobbling the challenger at will and even appearing to show mercy on a few occasions.
Despite losing handily, Chisora didn’t touch the canvas – other than an awkward tumble with Fury – and kept plodding forward to be met by the punches of a 286lb man.
After having a quiet word with the fighter’s corner after the ninth, referee Victor Loughlin eventually called a halt to the contest in the tenth. Speaking to Seconds Out in the aftermath, Chisora was grateful.
“The ref come to me and said ‘if you don’t do anything else, I’m going to stop it.’ And then the ref was right – I was not doing much anyway. The ref was right. The British Boxing Board of Control are right. You know, because afterwards you have to go home to your kids.”
“As fighters, you don’t wanna stop. You want to carry on, cause that’s how we’re bred. We just wanna fight, fight, fight for fifteen rounds. And that’s why the refs are there – to just look at the fight and say you know what, this is not going well.”
Chisora thanked Loughlin for his intervention in the ring, a clear sign that the fighter knew as much as the audience did that he needed saving from himself.
Despite being met with boos echoing around the 60,000 seater, Loughlin did what was responsible – and may just have kept ‘Del Boy’ from entering life-threatening injury territory. It was a brave call that Chisora’s corner didn’t make themselves, for which they’ve met quite a bit of criticism.
With the fight now resigned to history, Fury moves on undefeated to have a crack at becoming undisputed champion in the division.
Chisora’s future is unclear. The general consensus amongst fans, fighters, and pundits is that retirement beckons, but – unlike what happened in the tenth round – the only man that can make that decision is Chisora himself.