UK: Zimbabwe-born heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora targets 50 fights before retiring

By Sports Reporter

VETERAN Zimbabwe-born heavyweight boxer Derek Chisora has dismissed growing calls for him to hang up his gloves after revealing that he will only retire from boxing when he gets to 50 fights.

The 39-year-old heavyweight veteran laboured to a win over American Gerald Washington on Saturday evening.

This was his first fight back since his punishing trilogy defeat to fellow Briton Tyson Fury in December.

Many fans and pundits reacted by suggesting it is now time for Chisora to call it a day.

Even prominent British promoter Eddie Hearn, who has worked with the eccentric Zimbabwe-born entertainer for a number of years revealed that he would be happy with the veteran boxer calls it quits.

“The question is do I feel Derek Chisora should retire? I think it is disrespectful for me to voice too much of an opinion on that because he is someone who knows himself better than anybody.

“If I am being completely honest, if he phoned me up and said, ‘that’s it,’ I would be pleased because that is a good time to bow out after a victory,” Hearn said.

“I don’t think he can win a fight at the top tier of the heavyweight division anymore and I don’t want to see him get stopped in a fight, but at the same time, I respect him. I like him a lot and it is up to him.

“For me, his best days are behind him and I think those around him will be a better judge than me, but if he steps away from the sport, I would also be happy that he has certainly done his service.

But in response, Chisora told iFL TV: “It’s not retirement yet. not stopping, f*** off. Not yet, not yet. It’s not time yet…

“I’ve got three more fights, then I’m out. I want to get to 50.

“I do what the f*** I want because I’m WAR.”

Chisora’s win over Washington was his 47th professional bout.

He has now made it clear that, after three more contests, he will leave the sport for good.

Dereck Chisora was born on 29 December 1983 in Mbare, a high-density suburb of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital city.

His parents divorced when he was only four. As a result, he had to grow up in the care of his maternal grandmother and step-grandfather in a middle-class upbringing in a more affluent suburb of Hatfield.

Chisora did his secondary education at Churchill Boys High which has produced some of the country’s leading sportspersons.

At the age of 15, Chisora went back to Mbare to live with his father before moving to join his mother in the UK a year later in 1999.

Chisora took up the sport of boxing in 2002 at the age of 19 before going on to have 20 amateur fights, which included winning the 2006 ABA super heavyweight title, and a gold medal at the Four Nations Championships.

Chisora made his professional debut on 17 February 2007 at the Wembley Arena in London, beating Hungarian István Kecskés by a technical knockout (TKO) in the second round.

At present Chisora’s impressive record stands at 34 wins, 13 losses, and 0 draws.