Oleksandr Usyk vs Dereck Chisora is an anomaly in modern boxing. The usual array of meaningless ‘championship’ belts, those trinkets seen to elevate the value of any contest they’re attached to, is missing (The WBO Inter-Continental key chain was added at the last, disappointingly). Their absence is refreshing. This contest is being sold as an Olympic starlet and former cruiserweight champion against a rough, durable heavyweight who has somehow found the one-punch finisher in his Indian summer. For the winner? Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua continue their tentative dance, seemingly circling closer, to determine who the best heavyweight in the world is. Whoever wins between Usyk and Chisora will hopefully slot into the space below them and cause no impediment.
Chisora attended the weigh-in shirtless, his torso and face smeared in white and black make-up, the word ‘WAR’ drawn into his chest and printed on the mouthpiece he was already wearing. A mixed tribute to The Dark Knight, Mad Max: Fury Road, and Marvin Hagler. Usyk’s appearance was more conventional save the face covering. The two stared into each other’s eyes for an unusually long time for the cameras. A sense of menace emanated from Chisora especially, but from Usyk too, who glared straight ahead with the look of a man holding a secret he couldn’t wait to reveal.
Three or four years ago this fight would have been serviceable. Usyk is stepping up to heavyweight. Who can we match him with? We need to break him in against a fighter with a name who won’t won’t trouble him too much. Chisora would have certainly fit the bill then. He had just lost a decision for the European title against Kubrat Pulev, been outworked by the still-unknown Agit Kabayel in Monte Carlo, and been edged out of a close, bruising contest with Dillian Whyte. The Klitschko-slapping days were over. He would have done nicely as a punchbag for the fleet-footed southpaw Ukrainian.
Though tinged with the patriotic optimism that inevitably seeps into all sporting contests that cross international lines, the Sky Sports pre-fight coverage has shown a tentative optimism for Chisora’s chances from the usual talking heads. Piqued perhaps by Chisora’s manager and former opponent David Haye who has been unashamed in banging the drum throughout the promotion. Managerial and promotional affiliations aside, Chisora’s run of results over the last two years suggests he is now in a better position to beat Usyk than at any point in his recent career. During that time Chisora KO'd David Price, Artur Szpilka, and Carlos Takam, and outpointed Senad Gashi. Barring a knockout loss to Dillian Whyte in their rematch, that’s championship form. Add to this his change in physique and that he has been preparing to face Usyk for the better part of a year, and suddenly you have in Chisora a rather slippery stepping-stone.
But then, Usyk is sure-footed as a mountain goat. Michael Hunter. Marco Huck. Maris Breidis. Murat Gassiev. Tony Bellew. An eighteen month sequence that saw Usyk box these men to a standstill and become the undoubted king of the cruiserweights. A step up to the money division was the natural thing to do but he will always be an undersized heavyweight. Fortunately for him he is a dancer, a spinner, a feinter. He can move for twelve rounds, snapping out jabs, threatening with his front foot, varying the power in his punches. What he lacks in size he makes up for with mobility; a troublesome assignment for a plodding, sometimes static target in Chisora.
To ignore the allure of a Cinderella victory would be dishonest. I can picture it. After nine rounds under the cosh, breathing heavy and bleeding, Chisora launches an overhand swing that smashes Usyk into another dimension, dispelling all doubts, shattering expectations, becoming a mainstay of highlight reels for years to come.
As Sugar Ray once told Marvin Hagler in Baltimore, “It’ll never happen.” Usyk will keep moving, befuddling, landing combinations and avoiding Chisora’s slow retaliations. A points win for the Ukrainian who seems destined for some kind of stay at the apex of the division. For Chisora, who knows? Retirement? Resurgence? It’s been a long, abusive career. I only hope ten years from now he isn’t still swinging away in some Hungarian hovel for £500 a pop.
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