Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter has agreed with those who feel Derek Chisora pushed the Ukrainian harder than Anthony Joshua could.
Usyk has had just four fights in the heavyweight division, picking up the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring titles as he goes. His second was against a game Chisora, who some might call a gatekeeper for the division.
Upon unanimous decision victory, the Ukrainian headed into a two-fight stint with Anthony Joshua, winning both.
Tyson Fury, who faces ‘Del Boy’ this weekend’, recently claimed that he his opponent gave Usyk a tougher test than ‘AJ’ – even going as far to say that Chisora was ‘robbed’.
Krassyuk agrees with Fury about the performance – but of course not the robbery. He told Boxing Social that, despite some injuries to his man, Chisora impressed.
“Yeah. Absolutely. I 100% agree. I tell you why. We can justify Oleksandr Usyk for him coming in a bad physical condition – not the condition, the stamina. But he had some injuries that were not cured properly. That’s why he didn’t feel really comfortable.
But not to underestimate Derek. He made a great performance with all those inventions like switching the stance, making a double jab from southpaw stance. That was [some] unexpected stuff, and we understood that he [had been] preparing this specially for Usyk, and the fight was so close – and sometimes you couldn’t image that it could be that close.
Actually the score was 115-113, which is like almost one round. It means that Derek knows how to box. Derek knows how to fight.”
Whilst many fans agree that Chisora pushed Usyk to his limit, plenty of others believe that the Ukrainian was content to let the Brit gas out as he racked up points and moved around the ring.
Regardless, the scores are what goes down in the history books, and they were 117–112, 115–113, 115–113. In ‘AJ’s first fight with the same opponent, he lost via unanimous decision with the slightly less impressive 117–112, 116–112, 115–113. After trainer changes and a more focused effort, he lost via split decision.
‘WAR’ Chisora returns to action this weekend against an old foe in Fury – a fight that the majority of fans don’t give him a chance of winning, much like the Usyk bout.