News

By Barry Holbrook: Manager David Haye says Dereck Chisora will bringing an intensity we haven’t seen from him before when he takes on Oleksandr Usyk this Saturday on October 31 for the WBO heavyweight mandatory slot. Chisora is prepared to empty his tank to defeat the unbeaten former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk at the Wembley Arena in London, UK.

The Usyk vs. Chisora fight will be shown on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in the U.S. For the 36-year-old Chisora, this might be the final time he gets a chance to put himself in position for a world title shot. If he’s beaten soundly by Usyk and knocked out, there won’t be any coming back from this, and he knows this.

Many aren’t giving Dereck Chisora a chance for victory, said Haye to Sky Sports Boxing about his fight against Usyk. The man that we’ll see step through the ropes will be very different than what we’ve seen before. In those short spurts, he’s shown glimpses of world-class heavyweight pedigree, Haye said about Chisora’s fights against Artur Szpilk and Carlos Takam.

Matchroom Boxing will take over The SSE Arena, Wembley for four events in October, November and December, starting with the highly-anticipated Heavyweight showdown between pound-for-pound star Oleksandr Usyk and Derek Chisora on Saturday October 31, shown live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and on DAZN in all of its nine markets including the U.S., and ending with a night of World Championship boxing on Friday December 4 that will be announced shortly.

Over the course of six weeks, the famous venue in North-West London will play host to colossal Heavyweight rematches, historic World Title triple-headers, all-British World Title clashes, European Title action and British and Commonwealth Title fights as Matchroom close out the year in style with a packed schedule of boxing.

Former Undisputed Cruiserweight king Usyk and fan favourite Chisora kick things off next week on a huge night of action that sees Lee Selby and George Kambosos Jr square off in a Final Eliminator for the IBF Lightweight World Title, Savannah Marshall and Hannah Rankin collide for the WBO Middleweight crown, Heavyweight cult hero Dave Allen returns to action, Belfast’s Tommy McCarthy meets Belgium’s Bilal Laggoune for the European Cruiserweight Title and Amy Timlin faces off with Carly Skelly for the Commonwealth Super-Bantamweight Title.

UFC star Khabib Nurmagomedov says he wants to see former Undisputed Cruiserweight World Champion Oleksandr Usyk take on WBC Heavyweight ruler Tyson Fury. Dana White hailed Russia’s Nurmagomedov as the ‘GOAT’ and pound-for-pound best after he sensationally retired following his second-round stoppage of Justin Gaethje at UFC 254 in Abu Dhabi.

The undefeated Lightweight World Champion is a long-time fan of boxing, and was even spotted ringside for Anthony Joshua’s huge rematch with Andy Ruiz Jr in Saudi Arabia last year, but it is Ukraine’s Usyk he wants to see share the ring with ‘The Gypsy King’, not ‘AJ’. When asked for his assessment of the sport, prior to Vasiliy Lomachenko’s loss to Teofimo Lopez in Las Vegas, Khabib told reporters: “Right now, I think three guys. Oleksandr Usyk, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Canelo Alvarez.

He is not like other Heavyweights, more technique, his footwork is very good, his conditioning is very good, I really wanna watch Usyk against Fury. Usyk sits as WBO Mandatory Challenger to Joshua, but must first deal with an in-form Derek Chisora at The SSE Arena Wembley on Saturday, shown live on Sky Sports Box Office in the UK and DAZN in all of its nine markets including the U.S.

Promoter Eddie Hearn wonders if Oleksandr Usyk will be able to withstand the incoming firepower from heavyweight banger Derek Chisora. This coming Saturday night, Usyk will take part in his second heavyweight contest when he faces Chisora at the SSE Arena in Wembley. Usyk made his heavyweight debut last year, when he stopped late replacement Chazz Witherspoon – but the Olympic gold medal winner was not overly impressive at the new weight.

And the contest was only his second fight since knocking out Tony Bellew in the fall of 2018. At the moment Uysk is the WBO’s mandatory challenger to unified world champion Anthony Joshua. What do we know about Usyk? Genius. Amazing footwork. Punch selection, timing, mental capacity What we don’t know? How tough he is under heavyweight firepower. When he boxed Chazz Witherspoon there were a few signs that he didn’t like what was coming back. Witherspoon is nowhere near as good or fast as Chisora, Hearn told Sky Sports.

There are a lot of questions for Usyk to answer at heavyweight but he is a genius who will go down as one of the greatest fighters of our generation. At cruiserweight, Usyk unified the entire division and defeated every top contender at the weight. There was nothing left for him to do – except move up in weight to hunt for more gold. This is the perfect test for Usyk. He is one of the greatest fighters of all time. He did everything at cruiserweight – he became undisputed champion and pound-for-pound king. Now he moves to heavyweight – we know that in the amateurs he boxed Joe Joyce so he has operated at that level. But with small gloves and 12 rounds? This is different, Hearn said.

With Oleksandr Usyk set to face his first stiff heavyweight challenge on Saturday against Derek Chisora, the mandatory challenger to the WBO title held by Anthony Joshua has seemed confident leading up to the bout, and his team share that confidence.

The 33-year-old Usyk was undisputed cruiserweight champion, winning his first pro title in 2016 and unifying all four belts in 2018, before moving up to heavyweight last year. He scored a win over withered Chazz Witherspoon, but Chisora is a much more serious opponent in a serious weight class, where natural bulk and natural power may indeed prove kryptonite to Usyk’s outstanding skills.

The Ukrainian will not only be looking to secure that fight with Joshua, who faces IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev on Dec. 12, but to legitimize himself as a real contender in the division. And he’ll be looking to avoid the same result his countryman and good friend Vasiliy Lomachenko just had against Teofimo Lopez, too.

We’ll have much more on Usyk-Chisora this week, including a full preview of the entire card coming on Wednesday at Noon ET, leading up to live coverage on Saturday at 2 pm ET.