Derek Chisora promised he would return to the ring on the undercard of Anthony Joshua’s rematch with Dillian Whyte – and an American heavyweight has been announced as the man in the other corner.
Chisora (33-13, 23 KOs) hasn’t been in action this year following a brutal outing against Tyson Fury in December 2022 for the WBC heavyweight belt – his second world title challenge of a 15-year career.
Preceding that, ‘Del-Boy’ broke a three-fight losing streak by beating Kubrat Pulev over the distance.
Of late, he’s taken to the business side of things, working closely with Saudi Arabia in its promotion of the Jake Paul vs Tommy Fury card and subsequent pursuit of the biggest heavyweight fights.
At the time of the Fury defeat, he was adamant he wouldn’t hang up the gloves on a loss, and he now looks to add a 34th career-win against US heavyweight, Gerald Washington.
The Malik Scott-trained 41-year-old is 20-5-1 in his professional campaign with 13 stoppages. Following 19 bouts undefeated, Washington has since been dealt losses from Deontay Wilder, Jarrell Miller, Robert Helenius and Charles Martin.
His last fight in January of 2022 was a loss to Turkish heavyweight, Ali Eren Demirezen. Scott – who also trains Deontay Wilder – is confident he’s given his charge to tools to be better, and that starts with Derek Chisora.
The fight joins three other heavyweight battles on the card. Fan-favourite Johnny Fisher will face Harry Armstrong for the vacant Southern Area title. Armstrong is 5-1-1 and coming off a loss to Jeamie Tshikeva.
The IBF’s number one contender and mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk’s belt, Filip Hrgovic, will then defend his status against undefeated Australian southpaw, Demsey McKean.
Topping the bill, of course is Joshua’s second professional fight with Whyte, the first in 2015 culminating in a highlight reel stoppage for the two-time world champ.