SATURDAY night’s Co-op Arena card in Manchester saw Derek Chisora win his headline event against Otto Wallin in a manner typifying the gutsy heavyweight veteran.
Here, Boxing News takes a look at five things that we learned from this weekend’s standout event on British soil.
Chisora (L) was too much for Wallin (R) to handle. (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)‘Del Boy’ still has gas in the tank
The 41-year-old imposed his style on Wallin (27-3, 15 KOs), boxing on the front foot and pushing the Swedish fighter up against the ropes allowing him no room to exercise his jab.
What was most striking however was the ability of Chisora (36-13, 4 KOs) to maintain this aggression throughout the 10-round bout, striking Wallin with flurries of body shots and overhands knocking him down in rounds 9 and 12.
Chisora was not just throwing for the sake of it either, each combination was calculated, and despite sustaining a nasty cut to the eye in round 5, the tide never shifted in favour of the Swede.
Chisora has three targets in mind for his final fight.Chisora set for climactic 50th fight… at Wembley?
Having won the IBF title eliminator, Chisora may now bow out in his 50th fight with a title challenge against the winner of Daniel Dubois vs Joseph Parker.
But ‘War’ will not leave his final dance down to chance, and also has his eye on Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.
Post-fight, rappers Skepta, Lethal Bizzle and Tinie Tempah were invited into the ring to present pictures of the heavyweights Chisora has his sights on, with the crowd roaring loudest to a showdown with AJ.
The possibility of a Joshua bout comes as a surprise, as Chisora himself has claimed he would never fight the former heavyweight champion due to their strong friendship.
While the 50th and final fight for Chisora was expected to take place overseas, with a bout in Africa heavily speculated, promoter Frank Warren also introduced the possibility of a Wembley Stadium finale.
Will Chisora test new waters in a fight with AJ or Dubois, or will he go for revenge against the unified champion? What we have learnt as boxing fans is to never rule anything out with ‘Del Boy’.
Where now for Wallin after his latest defeat? (Leigh Dawney/Queensberry)
Wallin has reached his ceiling in the division
Otto Wallin’s only previous losses had come to former heavyweight champions, in Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. However, his hopes of establishing himself in the upper-hierarchy of the division took a potentially irreversible knock with this loss.
The big Swede was outclassed by an aging Chisora who himself has tried and struggled to reach the upper echelon.
Ultimately, Chisora was not intimidated by the power of Wallin and was willing to take shots if that meant he could land some of his own.
The loss leaves Wallin in a place of limbo, where he will struggle to entice the elite fighters and most likely act as a stepping stone for young fighters making their way up the heavyweight ranks.
Parker (R) will hope for a better performance next time out. (Leigh Dawney/Queensberry)
Zach Parker uninspiring in victory after late opponent switch
After Willy Hutchinson (18-2, 13 KOs) was forced to pull out of his undercard bout with Parker (26-1, 18 KOs), in stepped Frenchman Mickael Diallo (21-2, 18 KOs) who provided stiff competition despite taking the fight at brief notice and having been inactive for nearly a year.
Parker had the significant physical advantage and dominated proceedings before sustaining a cut to his eye in the fourth round.
The light heavyweight was clearly struggling and this ignited a fire in Diallo who knocked his opponent down in the seventh and proceeded to taunt Parker as he climbed to his feet.
Parker’s lack of stamina was a cause for concern, as he looked to break the rhythm of the fight and run down the clock, clinching and dropping to his knees to nullify his opponent.
The possibility that Parker’s lacklustre performance was simply down to ill preparation for Diallo’s style is noteworthy, but fans certainly expected a more dominant performance against a lower calibre albeit tough opponent.
The light heavyweight division is exciting and competitive, with a talented roster of British fighters including, Callum Smith, Joshua Buatsi, Anthony Yarde and Willy Hutchinson.
Parker still has his sights set on the latter, but his reputation has taken a knock in the manner of victory and a considerable improvement will be needed if he is to trouble the Scotsman.
Zak Miller (L) impressed against Abdulah (R). (Leigh Dawney/Queensberry)
Zak Miller shows tactical nous
Zak Miller (16-1, 3 KOs) put on a disciplined performance to win a majority decision over the previously undefeated Masood Abdulah (11-1, 7 KOs), earning himself the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles.
Miller boxed well off the back foot banking rounds early in the fight as the powerful punching Abdulah struggled to land anything noteworthy.
Abdulah started to put the pressure on midway through the fight but Miller kept his shape and composure weathering the storm as his opponent searched for the knockout with the fight slipping away.
Miller demonstrated his versatility in a tactical display of boxing, carefully selecting his moments to be aggressive while remaining wary of being caught by the power of Abdulah.
His counterpunching was exceptional and the evenly matched bout swung narrowly in Miller’s favour as Abdulah played into his hands.
