In what may have been his last-ever fight in the boxing ring, British heavyweight (200+ lbs) veteran Derek Chisora (36-13, 23 KO’s) may have had one of the best endings to a fighter’s career after coming out victorious against Swedish opponent Otto Wallin (27-3, 15 KO’s) at the Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, on Saturday, February 8th.
Headlining a Queensberry Promotions card, the 41-year old Chisora managed to summon the grit and determination he has displayed throughout his almost two-decade career for one last notable win, though the horrendous performance of Wallin almost overshadowed Chisora’s well-deserved victory.
As always, Derek Chisora came in much like a juggernaut, despite the wear and tear of his body. Wallin, 34, surprisingly seemed incapable of adjusting to Chisora’s aggressiveness and appeared overwhelmed numerous times, eventually leading to him being knocked down twice in the 9th and 12th round.
Notably, Otto Wallin lacked the aggressiveness to make for a more evenly-matched fight, preferring to remain defensive while being oddly tentative when it came to attacking the older heavyweight. This is despite a cut Chisora suffered early in the fight due to a head clash. Despite the cut looking somewhat severe, Chisora fought on and Wallin failed to take advantage of it. While fighting a come-forward fighter like Chisora would always warrant cautiousness, Wallin was supposed to make use of his skill and better overall conditioning as the younger fighter to overcome the British fighter, but conveniently, those attributes went missing during his performance.
This resulted in a virtual blowout win for Chisora, with most of the moments he attacked Wallin ending with at least one or two landed blows that clearly cracked the Swedish heavyweight. In return, Wallin’s own attacks seemed to do little to Chisora―or rather, Wallin appeared devoid of the energy and ring IQ to make the veteran fighter second guess. It resulted in a classic Chisora doubling down on pressuring Wallin while ignoring the blows Wallin threw at him.
After 12 rounds, Chisora was announced the winner by unanimous decision (UD) in a performance that, although far from unusual, summed up the career of a fighter who despite never becoming a world champion has made his mark on the boxing world.
Despite the win, the judges’ scorecards made little sense, particularly the 114-112 score in favor of Chisora when the fight had been nowhere close. Two other judges scored the fight as 116-110 and 117-109, more accurate yet still failing to capture Wallin’s lack of overall effort and the two knockdowns he suffered while also discounting the fact Chisora fought through what looked to be a gruesome cut at the age of 41.
Following his victory over Wallin, Chisora appears to be heading into retirement, though he may yet participate in one last fight, his 50th, before closing a chapter to his 17-year [which will be 18 years next week] career as pro boxer.
