Chisora predicts KO win over Whyte

BoxingNews24.com

By Scott Gilfoid: Former heavyweight title challenger Dereck Chisora (26-6, 18 KOs) is predicting a knockout victory over #10 WBC Dillian Whyte (19-1, 15 KOs) in their WBC heavyweight title eliminator bout this Saturday night on Sky Box Office PPV at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.

Chisora, 32, figures that he’s the much harder puncher of the two, so he’ll be knocking Whyte out to become the mandatory challenger to WBC champion Deontay Wilder. Honestly, it’s hard for me to picture the winner of the Whyte vs. Chisora fight facing a talent like Deontay. Come on, these guys haven’t proven they’re better than domestic level guys, and the World Council is letting them fight in a WBC eliminator.

I think it’s kind of sad really. Whyte was just beaten last year by Anthony Joshua, and Chisora keeps getting beaten each time he steps up to world level. If anything, the Chisora vs. Whyte fight should just be for Whyte’s British heavyweight title and little else. Chisora lost to Kubrat Pulev earlier this year.

That was two fights ago. How on earth is Chisora fighting a WBC eliminator bout after losing to Pulev? I don’t understand that at all. If anyone should be fighting in the WBC eliminator bout, it should be Johann Duhaupas and Jarrell Miller. Those guys at least have been winning lately. I think that would be a great fight with those two facing each other.

Whyte, 28, sees it the other way around. He believes he’s going to knock Chisora out, and potentially send him into retirement if it’s an early knockout. Whyte can see Chisora continuing his boxing career and becoming a European level journeyman if he loses by a point decision.

Chisora said this to skysports.com about his prediction on the Whyte fight:

“The fight is going to end with me victorious and him on the canvas,” said Chisora about Whyte. “I’ve done more rounds. I’ve got more experience. I understand the game better than he does and I hit much harder than him.”

Chisora does have more experience than Whyte, but it’s mostly negative experience with him losing to Tyson Fury twice, Kubrat Pulev, Robert Helenius, Vitali Klitschko and David Haye. Experience is only helpeful if you’re learning from it, and picking up victories against top level opposition in your future fights. We haven’t seen Chisora pick up wins over top fighters.

Chisora’s best wins have come against these fighters: Edmund Gerber, Malik Scott, Kevin Johnson, and Sam Sexton. Some boxing fans think Chisora deserved the decision win over Helenius in their fight in 2011. I don’t agree. I thought Helenius clearly won that fight by outworking Chisora despite having an injured shoulder.

Chisora gave Vitali Klitschko problems in losing to him by a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in 2012. This was the fight in which Vitali suffered a shoulder injury in the 2nd round, and was forced to fight the remainder of the fight using just his right hand. Even with just one hand working, Vitali beat Chisora by the scored 118-110, 118-110 and 119-111.

“I’m going to win,” said Whyte to skysports.com. “I’m going to try and knock him out, I want to knock him out, but if I’m going to pick up a points decision or a late stoppage then I don’t care. I definitely want to put him away though.”

I can’t see Whyte knocking Chisora out in this fight. Whyte doesn’t have enough punching power in his right hand to get the knockout. Without his left hand working for him, Whyte is pretty much going to be stuck bouncing right hands off the head of Chisora, and that’s not going to be powerful enough for him to get a knockout. I can see Whyte outworking Chisora over 12 rounds.

Chisora seemed to get discouraged and labored in his 12 round split decision loss to Pulev last May. That was a really bad effort. At times, Pulev made Chisora look as bad as he did Samuel Peter last Saturday night. That was a fight in which Pulev stopped the 36-year-old Peter after the 3rd round when he complained of an arm injury.

I don’t know whose idea it was for Whyte to fight in a WBC heavyweight eliminator match to get a title shot against Deontay. I think it’s a bad idea because it would be better for Whyte to go in the direction of fighting IBF champion Anthony Joshua. That’s the bigger payday for Whyte, and it’s a fight that could happen almost immediately.

The loser of the Whyte vs. Chisora fight is going to need to make a difficult decision what to do with their careers. I think Whyte will probably be still OK if he loses to Chisora, because he’s still with Matchroom Sport. Whyte’s promoter Eddie Hearn would likely ease off on matching him against slightly better opposition. Instead, I can see Hearn putting Whyte on a diet of 3rd tier opposition for a year or so in record-padding fights before matching him against Anthony Joshua for a title shot on Sky Box Office PPV. I don’t think a Whyte vs. Joshua II fight would play well outside of the UK, but I could see it doing well inside it.