DEREK Chisora demonstrated that he still has what it takes, emerging victorious against ‘Juggernaut’ Joe Joyce in a points decision at the O2 Arena. While the fight wasn’t always pretty, the crowd was thrilled by the brutal brawl that ended with Chisora’s hand raised in victory.
The judges scored the fight 96-94 in favor of Chisora (twice by Mark Bates and Victor Loughlin) and 97-92 by Kieran McCann.
Both fighters seemed sluggish in the opening rounds, with Chisora focusing on body shots and engaging in physical exchanges. Chisora appeared briefly rocked towards the end of the round.
In the second round, Chisora continued to target the body, an area that proved successful for him in the past against Bryant Jennings. By the end of the third round, Chisora was visibly fatigued as Joyce capitalized on openings for his hooks and uppercuts.
Round four saw Joyce using his weight advantage to push Chisora to the ropes as Chisora tried to unleash his left hook. Joyce’s strong left jab was mostly absent until the fifth round, which saw a surge in action in the final seconds.
Round six began with the referee warning the fighters for their conduct. The round continued in a messy fashion, with Chisora’s swinging punches proving difficult for Joyce to avoid.
The closing moments of round seven were intense, with Chisora once again retreating to the ropes, absorbing punishment but delivering heavy blows.
By round eight, Chisora looked hurt and exhausted, staggering back to his corner and collapsing onto his stool. Was this the end for the veteran warrior of UK boxing?
The ninth round took a surprising turn as Chisora momentarily stunned Joyce with a powerful right hand counter.
In the final round, Chisora relied on his ropes, waiting for Joyce to make a move so he could land significant punches. Even Oleksandr Usyk stood to applaud the fighters.
“Joe was a tough opponent. I’m not ready to retire yet,” Chisora confirmed after his victory. “Big shout out to London!”
Chisora expressed gratitude to promoter Frank Warren and paid tribute to the late Dean Powell.
Joe Joyce appeared pleased with his performance, engaging directly with the London crowd: “Do you want more of me? I’m still going strong.”
On the undercard, Ryan Garner handed Archie Sharp his first professional defeat in a hard-fought battle of undefeated fighters. Sharp suffered a severe cut and lost by unanimous decision after 10 rounds.
Moses Itauma made a strong statement in the heavyweight division by stopping Mariusz Wach in the second round.
Dennis McCann decisively outpointed Ionut Baluta over 12 rounds to advance in his career and put to rest their previous encounter.
Royston Barney-Smith overcame a nasty cut to defeat Brian Barajas in an eight-round match.
Sean Noakes claimed the English welterweight title with a points victory over Inder Bassi after a competitive 10-round bout.
Aadam Hamed started the televised portion with a dominant 40-36 victory over Georgi Velichkov.
Raven Chapman secured the WBC International featherweight title with a 10-round points decision over Yohana Sarabia.
Brandun Lee made his Queensberry debut with an impressive eight-round victory over Juan Anacona.
Umar Khan outpointed Kaddour Hmiani over eight rounds.
Jermaine Dhliwayo won his debut fight against Engel Gomez in a four-round contest.