Dereck Chisora

Chisora was born in Zimbabwe on December 29, 1983. He left Zimbabwe at 16 to join his mother in London, briefly attended a public school, and says he still speaks Shona. By his own account, after arriving in London he fell in with street kids who were bad boys and was placed on probation for petty crime; two years later his probation officer suggested he try boxing and got him into Finchley Boxing Club.⁠[1][2][3][3][3][3][3][3][3]

He and future world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua both came out of the amateur boxing club in Finchley and are old friends. His nickname “Del Boy” fits his passion for antiques, and he walked to the ring to the theme tune of the sitcom “Only Fools and Horses.”⁠[4][5][3]

Chisora turned professional in 2007. In June 2008, in only his fourth professional fight, he faced Sam Sexton and stopped him in the last minute of the fifth round; in April that year he was also a reserve for the first Prizefighter heavyweight tournament. In 2009 he bit Paul Butlin during a fight he won on points and was suspended for four months.⁠[6][7][3][3][8][3]

In 2010, aged 26, Chisora faced veteran Danny Williams, who had beaten Mike Tyson, at Upton Park in London, stopping him one minute and 41 seconds into the second round to win the British heavyweight title. In September that year he met his friend and rival Sam Sexton again in Birmingham in a title defence, unbeaten in 13 fights going in. By November 2010 he was British and Commonwealth heavyweight champion and unbeaten in 14 professional fights.⁠[9][9][9][9][9][3][3][10][10]

On November 10, 2010, City of Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London found Chisora guilty of assaulting his then girlfriend on May 28 that year. He was given a 12-week prison sentence suspended for two years and ordered to pay £1,500 in compensation and £500 in costs and to complete 150 hours of community work. The court heard that he had previous convictions, including for assault. District Judge Quentin Purdy told him: “You clearly have a problem with violence and that has got to stop or your career will be over.”⁠[10][10][10][10][10][10]

In December 2010, IBF and WBO world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko withdrew from his scheduled fight with Chisora, citing a torn abdominal muscle. Chisora had had only 14 professional fights at the time, and promoter Frank Warren said he was “very disappointed.” By July 2011, two proposed fights with Klitschko had been cancelled within eight months.⁠[11][10][11][11][12]

On July 23, 2011, Chisora defended his British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles at Wembley Arena in London against the unbeaten 23-year-old Tyson Fury. He weighed in at the heaviest of his career and rocked Fury in the second round, but was then controlled by his opponent and lost a unanimous decision (117-112, 117-112, 118-111), losing both belts and his unbeaten record.⁠[12][12][12][12][13][12][12]

In the meantime he had also lost to Robert Helenius. On February 18, 2012, at the Olympiahalle in Munich, Germany, Chisora challenged WBC world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko and lost on points, 118-110, 118-110 and 119-111. Klitschko had knocked out 40 of his previous 45 opponents before the final bell, but Chisora went the full distance. Before the fight he slapped Klitschko at the weigh-in, for which the WBC withheld part of his purse, and just before the opening bell he spat water in the direction of Wladimir Klitschko.⁠[14][2][14][14][15][15]

At the post-fight news conference he got into a shouting match with David HayeDavid HayeDavid Haye is a British former professional boxer nicknamed “The Hayemaker.” He unified the WBA, WBC and WBO world cruiserweight titles, and in 2009 he beat Nikolay Valuev to win the WBA world heavyweight title, becoming the first Briton to hold a world heavyweight crown since Lennox Lewis. He retired in 2018.Open the full entry, who was in attendance, and it turned into a brawl in which Haye’s trainer Adam Booth suffered cuts to his face; Chisora then repeatedly threatened to “shoot” Haye. The next day he was detained by police at Munich Airport for questioning and was released without charge that evening; German prosecutors said he was suspected of malicious injury and making a threat. He later issued a statement apologising “wholeheartedly,” admitting his behaviour had been “inexcusable.”⁠[15][15][15][2][2][2][2]

The British Boxing Board of Control held a hearing into his conduct before and after the Klitschko fight and withdrew his boxing licence after the hearing on March 14, 2012. He appealed against the decision.⁠[2][16][17]

Because Chisora’s licence had been withdrawn and the retired Haye held no British licence, the two fought at Upton Park in London on July 14, 2012, under licences issued by the Luxembourg Boxing Federation, without the sanction of the British Boxing Board of Control. The fight was broadcast on the BoxNation subscription channel, and Haye stopped Chisora in the fifth round.⁠[17][17][16][17][16]

In March 2013 the British Boxing Board of Control issued Chisora a new licence. “I’m glad that this whole episode is finally behind me and I can carry on with my boxing career in my own country,” he said. In April he stopped Argentina’s Hector Alfredo Avila after nine rounds at Wembley Arena; in July, after taking anger-management lessons and adopting a controlled diet, he knocked out previously unbeaten American Malik Scott in the sixth round, a disputed result, as Scott insisted he had got up within the count.⁠[16][16][18][18][19][19][19]

In September 2013 he stopped Germany’s Edmund Gerber in the fifth round at London’s Copper Box to win the vacant European heavyweight title, taking his record to 18 wins and four losses. “My mum told me to either do it seriously or stop. So now I’m going to do this seriously,” he said. By February 2014 he also held the WBO and WBA intercontinental titles.⁠[20][20][20][21]

In March 2014 promoter Frank Warren announced that Chisora and Fury would meet in a world title eliminator in Manchester, with the winner to challenge Wladimir Klitschko. The fight was postponed after Chisora fractured a hand in training and was rescheduled for November 29 at London’s ExCeL, as a final eliminator for the WBO heavyweight title. Fury switched to southpaw and dominated, Chisora was pulled out by his corner after the 10th round, and Fury won the British and European heavyweight titles.⁠[22][22][23][23][24][25][25][25]

In May 2016, in Hamburg, Germany, Chisora fought Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev in an IBF world title eliminator that was also for the vacant European title, and lost a split decision: two judges scored it 116-112 and 118-110 for Pulev, while the third had it 115-113 for Chisora. He thereby missed out on a shot at IBF champion Anthony Joshua.⁠[26][26][26][26][26]

On December 7, 2016, at a news conference ahead of his fight with British heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte, Chisora picked up a table and threw it at Whyte, prompting security to intervene. He said he reacted because Whyte had threatened to attack him if he saw him after the fight: “one thing you cannot do is threaten a man’s life.” The next day the British Boxing Board of Control gave him a two-year ban that would only take effect if he committed another offence, fined him £25,000 and ordered him to pay a further £5,000 in costs, and withdrew its sanction for the fight as a British title contest; it went ahead as a WBC world heavyweight title eliminator.⁠[27][27][27][27][27][28][28][28]

The two met in Manchester that month, and Whyte won a hotly disputed split decision. Chisora later insisted he had been “cheated” by the judges.⁠[29][30][29]

On November 4, 2017, at Le Casino de Monte Carlo in Monaco, Chisora challenged German European champion Agit Kabayel and lost a majority decision: two judges scored it 115-113 and 115-114 for Kabayel, and the third scored it a 114-114 draw. It was the seventh defeat of his 35-fight career.⁠[31][31][31][31][31]

In July 2018, on the undercard of Whyte’s fight with Joseph Parker, Chisora came from behind to knock out Carlos Takam, regarded as a career-best moment. In October that year he named his former rival David Haye as his manager, joining the Hayemaker boxing stable; Haye said he had thought Chisora was washed up, but the fight changed his mind. From then on Chisora styled himself “WAR” Chisora.⁠[29][30][30][30][30][30][29]

On December 22, 2018, he faced Whyte again at the O2 Arena in London. He built a narrow lead at one point but had points deducted for a low blow and an elbow, and was knocked out by a Whyte left hook in the 11th round.⁠[29][32][32][32]

In 2019 Chisora won three fights in a row: on April 20 he beat Senad Gashi by unanimous decision at the O2 Arena; in July, on the undercard of Whyte’s fight with Oscar Rivas, he knocked out Poland’s Artur Szpilka in the second round; and on October 26 he stopped fellow Briton David Price in the fourth round at the O2, with Price’s corner throwing in the towel.⁠[33][33][33][34][34][35][35][35]

Chisora’s fight with Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, was originally scheduled for May 23, 2020, in London, and eventually took place on October 31 at Wembley Arena, without fans because of Covid restrictions. Usyk won a unanimous decision, 117-112, 115-113 and 115-113, and Chisora said afterwards he was “disappointed” with the result. It was the 10th defeat of his career.⁠[4][4][36][36][36][37][36][37]

In May 2021, behind closed doors in Manchester, Chisora faced New Zealand’s former WBO champion Joseph Parker and knocked him down inside the opening 10 seconds, but faded as the fight went on and lost a split decision (scored 115-113, 111-116, 115-113). Aggrieved by the scoring, he said: “They want to see me retiring but I am not yet.”⁠[38][38][39][38][38][38][38]

The two met again in Manchester that December. Chisora took three counts but lasted all 12 rounds, and Parker won a unanimous decision. It was Chisora’s 12th defeat in 44 professional fights; Parker said afterwards he would like to see him walk away, and Chisora replied: “I’ll be back in the summer.”⁠[39][39][39][39][40][40]

In July 2022, aged 38, Chisora met Pulev again at the O2 Arena in London and won a split decision (112-116, 116-112, 116-114), avenging the 2016 defeat and ending a three-fight losing streak. It was the 33rd win of his 15-year professional career.⁠[5][41][5][5][5]

On December 3, 2022, at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Chisora challenged WBC world heavyweight champion Fury in their third meeting, the first with a world title at stake. Fury retained the title by technical knockout at 2:51 of the 10th round. Afterwards Fury called him “an absolute warrior,” while Chisora thanked the referee for stopping the fight.⁠[42][43][43][43][43]

In the fight before this one, Chisora had beaten Gerald Washington by unanimous decision over 10 rounds. In July 2024, aged 40, he met fellow Briton Joe Joyce in a back-and-forth slugfest at the O2 Arena in London, dropping his opponent in the ninth round and winning a unanimous decision, 96-94, 96-94 and 97-92, his first back-to-back wins in almost five years. It was his 35th professional win, and he said it was his last fight at the O2 Arena.⁠[44][45][46][46][46][46][46][46]

On February 8, 2025, at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester, the 41-year-old Chisora faced Sweden’s Otto Wallin, knocked him down twice and won a unanimous decision, 117-109, 114-112 and 116-110, taking his record to 36 wins in 49 fights. The bout had been elevated to an IBF world title eliminator earlier that week and was billed as his final fight in the UK; afterwards he asked fans to vote on his opponent for his 50th fight, saying he would retire after it.⁠[7][45][45][45][45][45][45][45]

In January 2026 Chisora settled on American former WBC world heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder at London’s O2 Arena as the 50th fight of his career. The two had been due to fight 13 years earlier, but Wilder withdrew after an arrest prevented him from travelling to the UK. On April 2, Chisora arrived at a news conference at York Hall in an army tank with his friend Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, though Farage did not attend the event; Chisora insisted it would be his final professional bout.⁠[47][48][47][47][49][49][49][49]

On April 4, Chisora stunned Wilder in the fifth round but was sent through the ropes by a right hand in the eighth, a round in which Wilder was also deducted a point for pushing. Wilder won a split decision, 115-111 and 115-113 against 115-112, dropping Chisora’s professional record to 36 wins and 14 losses; both of his world title challenges (against Vitali Klitschko in 2012 and Fury in 2022) had ended in defeat. Joined in the ring by his family afterwards, he declined to confirm his retirement, saying only that he would “go home with the boss lady and see.”⁠[50][50][6][6][6][6][50][6]

On May 13, 2026, Chisora said his wife had given him the green light for a rematch with Wilder, which was under negotiation, and that he would retire at the end of the year after it. MF Pro president Amer Abdallah said Chisora had been livid at Wilder’s post-fight remarks about taking it easy on him and had demanded the rematch.⁠[51][51][51][51][52][52]

On August 5, 2026, The Venture RoomThe Venture RoomThe Venture Room is a UK entrepreneurial media brand centered on the YouTube channel @theventureroom. Through long-form interviews with founders and street interviews such as “Asking Millionaires How They Got Rich?”, it presents entrepreneurs’ stories and advice to aspiring business owners, and runs an entrepreneur community and brand partnerships.Open the full entry released a street-interview video filmed in Mayfair, London, in which Chisora appears at around 1:30 and the host describes him as “one of the top heavyweights in the whole country.” Asked how his mindset differed as a champion, he said life is not about working hard but about being positive, and remarked that success can just be a matter of “being at the right place at the right time.” Asked for a business lesson for the next generation, he said to be honest with your business partners.⁠[53][53][53][53][53][53]

“Life is not about hard working. Life is about being positive.” That was his answer when asked about a champion’s mindset. (video at 2:04)⁠[53]

“Just be honest with your business partners.” This was his business lesson for the next generation, and he repeated it: “just be honest.” (video at 2:26)⁠[53][53]

X: Public account: https://x.com/DerekWarChisora (opens in a new window)⁠[41][41]