Derek Chisora has been away from the ring since a loss to Tyson Fury last December, but ruled out retirement in the aftermath and has now perhaps found his next dance partner.
The fan-favourite fighter from Finchley has built a record of 33 wins and 13 losses since his pro debut back in 2007. His career includes the British, Commonwealth and European heavyweight titles as well as two unsuccessful challenges for world honours.
His third defeat to Fury was a punishing one, but ‘Del Boy’ shut down questions of hanging up the gloves by saying he didn’t want to leave the sport on a loss.
At a recent Misfits weigh-in, Chisora was invited on stage as a special guest. After briefly facing off with a child, Mairis Briedis joined him.
The two traded words, and Chisora asked the crowd if they should fight. Briedis angled for the event to take place in Latvia whilst the Englishman repeated ‘show me the money.’
It would be the crossover boxing company’s first real step into serious boxing, and would land on DAZN as part of their long term broadcast deal.
Breidis – who gave Oleksandr Usyk ‘the most difficult 12 rounds of his career at 200lbs – has been calling for the Chisora fight for a while now, clearly seeing it as a good introduction to the heavyweight scene.
He’s not wrong. Chisora provided Usyk with 12 solid rounds on his second fight in the top division. The Ukrainian moved from there into two bouts with Anthony Joshua in which he won and retained the unified heavyweight titles.
Having failed to tempt Jake Paul into a fight, Briedis – a three-time cruiserweight world champion – has been out of the ring since a unanimous decision loss to Jai Opetaia in July of last year.
Despite Chisora making a point of saying nothing was signed, fans can read the staged face off as a sign that tentative talks have begun.