Boxing Gods: Dillian Whyte Vs Derrick Chisora II Needs to Be Made!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

British Boxing is probably at its greatest in terms of influence and profile right now. This weekend shall see a sell out in Sheffield at the home of Sheffield United in the same way that Wembley sold out for the heavyweight fight of 2017. A few years ago, that would have been unthinkable. British boxing was not in sufficiently healthy a state to hold a big outside venue event that would do pay per view numbers AND sell out.

But now, British boxing fans are beginning to make demands and ask for fights. The new thing is, they are starting to get them. Whilst we may not be able to shake down Gervonta Davis, Canelo Alvarez, Gennady “GGG” Golovkin or Jorge Linares, the domestic scene is just so big and thriving we can rival their arrival with dust ups of our own.

Now the 2017 heavyweight fight of the year became Anthony Joshua/Wladimir Klitschko. Before that it was a domestic fight that had just about everything in it. The two boxers did not like each other and were warned about their behavior after an ill-tempered press conference where one threw a table at the other and the fight took the hype, heightened it and delivered one of the best fights we have ever seen.

Now, and immediately afterwards, the two pugilists are wanted by the fans to deliver one thing; a rematch.

There are debates over whether it would sell out Wembley but a decent sized crowd would gather a at a street corner to see Dillian Whyte, 20-1, 15 KO’s, and Derrick Chisora, 26-7, 18 KO’s, go at it again.

Both are not strangers to controversy as both Whyte and Chisora have been at the center of some controversial issues over the years; in fact if Derrick Chisora wanted a new nickname, split decision would be a good shout!

Whyte may be remembered Stateside as the guy who caused Joshua real trouble before Joshua got in the ring with Klitschko. Whyte had beaten Joshua in the amateurs in his very first fight, and that rankled Joshua. It was so much of an issue that he went in the ring and allowed his heart to rule his head; it nearly cost him as Whyte rattled him.

It did not bring Whyte to our attention but it made the cool customer that is Joshua human and added to his mystique.

We already knew that before taking up boxing professionally, Whyte had been a British super heavyweight and European K1 kickboxing champion.

He then went into MMA and his debut lasted 12 seconds as he left hooked his opponent into oblivion and perhaps gave him a clue as to what his future career ought to be.

Whyte began that professional journey with several wins that brought him to the attention of boxing aficionados. There was little by way of chatter outside of boxing and in 2012 he found himself ending the year with a significant win against Hungary’s Sandor Balogh. It was not a win that was to stay on his record as he was found to have Methylhexaneamine (MHA) in his system by the UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) organization. He found out that he was going to be banned as he was going to announce a fight for the English heavyweight title and it ended with a 2 year ban being imposed. Whyte fought it but lost, served it, then returned in late 2014 to the ring after it.

That return saw him, in 2015, win the WBC international silver belt against Brian Minto in a 3rd round KO. Next was the much anticipated clash with Joshua which Whyte lost for the British title but gave such a good account of himself that bigger fights were supposed to follow.

First though he had a shoulder injury to recover from so his return on the 25th Jun 2016 saw him defeat Ivica Bacurin before he got in the ring with British heavyweight Dave Allen and schooled him over 10 rounds to take the WBC international title.

You had to think that just maybe, he was ready for bigger world honors but another grudge match with Ian Lewison for the British title was next on the Ricky Burns/Kiryl Relikh undercard. It was a 10th round stoppage win for Whyte in another fight filled with tension from outside of the ring as Lewison and Whyte traded insults.

Those insults were chicken feed in comparison to what he felt and traded with Zimbabwean born and former British, Commonwealth and European Champion, Chisora. He has an equally interesting past including being robbed of the EBU title when he fought Robert Helenius in Finland the first time in 2012 when he lost in a ludicrous split decision. So, ludicrous it was that The Ring dropped the winner in its rankings afterwards and Vitali Klitschko refused to fight Helenius and gave Chisora the match.

Chisora has also served a suspension, like Whyte, though his was for only 4 months. He was also fined £2,500 and lost out on a British title fight after being found guilty in 2009 of biting his opponent, Paul Butlin.

Controversy continued for Chisora as he gave Vitali Klitschko a hard time in the ring for the WBC title, he ended up in a public brawl with David Haye in Germany that led to his arrest, a fight with Haye, the British Boxing Board of Control withdrawing his license and both having to get the Maltese Boxing Commission to sanction their open-air grudge match that ended in a 5th round loss for Chisora.

The WBC, due to his antics before the Klitschko fight even put an indefinite suspension in place. Chisora then followed the WBO path but that meant a rematch with Tyson Fury in 2014 that ended with his corner pulling him out in the 10th in his second loss to Fury.

Chisora got into contention for the IBF title instead and his 2015 fight against Kubrat Pulev was an eliminator which he lost on a split decision on 7th May 2016.

Then came Chisora/Whyte as a WBC eliminator and for the third time, Chisora was on the cusp of a world title fight. The fight between them will be whispered about in years to come.

Originally billed as a British title fight and WBC eliminator it ended with both boxers knackered, the fight fans delighted and the clamor for a rematch almost unstoppable as it was another split decision. Their bitter rivalry had come from social media with barbed jibes being traded for a long time. It was supposed to be for the British title but after Whyte had gone too far in his remarks in a press conference and Chisora had picked up a table and thrown it at Whyte, the British Boxing Board of Control withdrew their sanctioning of the fight as a title fight.

It was an epic. It remained a WBC international title scrap as both fought gallantly and Whyte got it in a fight that could have been called either way. Initially Whyte had no truck with a rematch. He refused to consider it as it would be him going backwards as he wanted world glory. Instead on the 3rd June he was due to face Mariusz Wach. Whyte has had to pull out due to a foot injury in training.

Like Whyte, Chisora has had his fight pulled as Helenius’ camp have withdrawn with nobody quite sure why. What could happen in July? A rematch? We would love that. Whether there is a governing body who would see that as a final eliminator, whether these are two boxers who could behave themselves, whether we see it or not, it gives us plenty to salivate over in the meantime.

Win an autographed copy of Mike Tyson’s autobiography “UNDISPUTED TRUTH” by clicking HERE and subscribing to be entered to win this great prize along with any future ones!

[si-contact-form form=’2′]