Derek Chisora rolled back the years with a stunning upset victory over Joe Joyce in a thrilling all-British heavyweight showdown.
‘Del Boy’ produced a superb display full of trademark heart in front of an adoring crowd at London’s O2 Arena to floor his rival in the ninth round before earning a fully deserved unanimous decision win with scores of 96-94, 96-94 and 97-92 that will now prolong his long career further still and leave a devastated Joyce at a real crossroads.
Chisora confirmed after the fight that he was not planning to retire just yet, insisting he had two more bouts left to reach the 50 mark as a professional as he stated his intention to return to the ring again in Manchester in December - the same month as he celebrates his 41st birthday.
He clarified that his ‘farewell dance’ references in the build-up to fight night this week referred to his final appearance at the O2 Arena, rather than his career itself.
Joyce - who is only a year younger than Chisora at 39 - also claimed he had no plans to call it quits, despite suffering a truly calamitous loss that, with heavyweight kind Oleksandr Usyk watching on from ringside, will surely permanently extinguish any lingering hopes of a future world title shot.
It was a third defeat in his last four outings for ‘The Juggernaut’, who lost his WBO interim title and undefeated record in a pair of bruising knockout losses to Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang last year before flattering to deceive in his comeback win over Kash Ali in March.
Chisora, meanwhile, stepped up a level after his laboured points win over fellow veteran Gerald Washington on the Anthony Joshua-Robert Helenius undercard last summer, producing his 35th victory as a pro that he will feel fully vindicates his decision to carry on fighting despite a considerable list of naysayers that believe he should have hung up his gloves some time ago.
On Saturday’s entertaining undercard, Ryan Garner successfully retained his WBC International super-featherweight title with a gruelling points win over Archie Sharp, who fell to a first career loss.
Rising heavyweight superstar Moses Itauma sent another crushing warning shot to the rest of the division as he knocked out former world title challenger Mariusz Wach inside just two rounds in what was supposed to be the toughest test to date and a real step up for the teenage phenom.
Dennis McCann delivered the performance of his career as he picked up the vacant European super-bantamweight title in a thoroughly one-sided rematch against Romania’s Ionut Baluta, having fought to a controversial draw at York Hall last year.
Royston Barney-Smith claimed his first career title with a win over Brian Barajas to take the WBO youth super-featherweight belt and Sean Noakes scooped the vacant English welterweight belt in front of brother Sam with a tough decision victory over Inder Bassi, while Prince Naseem’s son Aadam sealed his second pro win against Georgi Velichkov.
Raven Chapman kept her women’s WBC International featherweight title with a win over Yohana Sarabia, while Brandun Lee won on his Queensberry Promotions debut against Juan Anacona.
Umar Khan stayed unbeaten against Kaddour Hmiani, while the night started with a victory on his pro debut from Chisora’s nephew Jermaine Dhliwayo, who saw off Engel Gomez.
