TOTAL WAR
Whyte and Chisora take brutal, at times ugly, but glorious wins at the O2
BOTH Dillian Whyte and Dereck Chisora thrive in mayhem. They emerged from two of the most brutal, captivating heavyweight fights you’ll see this year and will be key figures in the top division in the coming months.
Brixton’s Whyte established himself as the leading contender for a world heavyweight title challenge, despite teetering on the brink of disaster in his 12th round with Joseph Parker. The New Zealander is the former WBO world champion and the first professional to go the distance with Anthony Joshua. Whyte’s gruelling points victory at the O2 earns him tremendous credit, but he had to summon all his resilience to finish the job.
Going into the last round Whyte was seemingly ahead on points, although by no means comfortable in the fight. A scything Parker right cross, cutting through his guard sent Dillian’s senses spinning. Whyte scrambled back towards the ropes. Parker charged forward, mustering the last remnants of his strength send fizzing shots into him. Whyte reeled away but Parker pressed the assault. Stunned still, Whyte was vulnerable. Joseph battered him down to the canvas. Badly hurt, Dillian heaved himself upright. But time was leaking away from Parker. A final rush only saw him enfolded in a clinch. Whyte held him desperately tight. Referee Ian John Lewis tried to prise Whyte’s arms off him, but the clock had run its course.
Parker at least had shown himself to be a dangerous fighter. He began well, light on his feet in the first round, plying Whyte with jabs and sliding clear of the heavy blows coming back at him. The visitor had promised to display more aggression than he had against Joshua and stayed true to word. Right
crosses shot over Whyte’s guard caught him out and Parker picked moments to set himself and whip solid hooks off the back hand into the Londoner’s stomach. The audible crack of the punches connecting showed the New Zealander had power too.
The two collided in the second round and Parker sank to the canvas. Whyte stood over him, glaring down, the first step in intimidating his foe. At first glance it did seem like a left hook had scraped across Parker’s jaw. A second look however suggested it was a clash of heads.
Joseph’s corner was left fuming. Kevin Barry, his trainer, said, “I think it was a round we were winning. It went from being a 10-9 round to us to a 10-8 round to Dillian. I actually think the effects of that headbutt were suffered in round three and four. He wasn’t himself and it wasn’t until the fifth round he had everything going again.”
Whyte made sure to force his way on to the front foot. His work didn’t seem as crisp or clean as Parker’s but, in the middle rounds, it was the more effective. His jab thudded through consistently, displacing Parker’s own left and pushing Joseph’s head back. Right hands, not always full force, still stretched far enough to land high and Whyte subjected the body to punishment. He snared Parker when he caught up to him in close, cleaving cruel hooks into his sides.
But he sapped Parker’s energy most effectively with rough-house tactics. He began to bully Joseph out of the fight, shoving him into the ropes, pulling his head down, hitting him wherever he could. The effect on the former champion was visible. His mouth hung open, his movement slowed, his punch output plummeted. Whyte
‘ANYTHING COULD HAVE HAPPENED. BUT I WAS GIVEN 12 ROUNDS’
was manhandling his way back into the fight and wrestling the momentum his way. Referee Ian John Lewis could well have deducted a point for those infractions, but they were just what Whyte needed to turn this contest into his fight. “He should have points taken off, 100 percent,” Barry insisted.
Dillian broke through in the ninth round. He cuffed his left hook up just as Parker stepped forward. He’d moved into the arc of the blow and Whyte struck through the point of his chin. It left Parker turning slightly aside as he plunged through the air, his legs stiff and unresponsive. He hit the deck heavily but found the grit to rise and ride out the rest of the session. He even managed to collect himself and his boxing, still deploy good right crosses and left hooks that tilted Whyte to the side.
It was enough to set up the thrilling finale and have Whyte in all sorts of distress in the dying seconds of the fight. But cling on he did for a unanimous decision, 113-112 for Steve Gray, 114111 for Phil Austin and 115-110 for Christophe Fernandez.
“Anything could have happened,” Parker reflected without bitterness. “But I was given 12 rounds to do what I had to do.”
Being so near to a finish might give Parker an argument for a rematch. But it’s Whyte who finds himself within touching distance of his first world title shot. The WBO International and WBC Silver belts he holds should leave him ranked number one with those sanctioning bodies and therefore eyeing a rematch with old rival Anthony Joshua, the unified WBA, WBO and IBF champion, or challenging WBC titlist Deontay Wilder.
“Wilder, Joshua, if I fight them two, I’ll have to wait till April. I’ll need an intermediate fight in the meantime but I’m still learning, there are still things I need to work on,” Whyte said. “But if Joshua wants it in April, he can have it.”
Britain has a new cult hero in Finchley heavyweight Dereck Chisora. He was the underdog against Carlos Takam,a veteran and recent world title challenger who had only been stopped on his feet after 10 rounds with Joshua. The Cameroonian, based in France, looked to show the gulf between them early on, subjecting Chisora to a near constant assault. He tucked his head in and bored up close to the Londoner. Booming hooks thundered round his guard and his right uppercut powered in. Takam kept lining up left hooks, hard shots that Chisora took flush and had to endure.
Too often Chisora planted himself against the ropes, his feet unmoving, just covering up as Takam savaged him and his defences. In a fit of bravado, Dereck leaned back in his own corner, resting his arms on the top ropes as if to persuade Takam and himself that he was unhurt. Carlos still belted him back with a right.
The crowd nevertheless chanted Dereck’s name over and over and ultimately willed him forward. Chisora fought his way off the ropes, his swings wild but enough to repel Takam.
His breakthrough came in the eighth round. Battling through a fog of pain and exhaustion, he slashed his right down. The shot caught Carlos high on the head and left him stranded on the canvas.
“I was dazed. I saw him on the floor and I thought he slipped. Then I saw the ref counting. I’m going to step in again, don’t even jab, just send in another one,” Chisora said. “You know, it’s time I send this home. So I sent it.”
Takam rose unsteadily just beating Howard Foster’s count. Chisora marched out to meet him and fired over the exact same shot. It cast Takam down, hitting the boards of the ring with a crash, knocked out at 1-01. The crowd erupted, delirious with satisfaction and Chisora conducted their chants.
Katie Taylor after only 10 fights is already a unified world champion and looks increasingly assured as a professional. The IBF and WBA titlist was a class above US challenger Kimberly
Connor. She soon connected with quick salvoes of punches. Connor scraped a left hook across but was reduced to trudging forlornly forward. A lump began to swell under Taylor’s right eye, it must have come from a clash of heads – Connor had scarcely landed anything of note.
In the third round Taylor saw Connor weaken and pounced ruthlessly on her prey. She let her hands loose, bombarding Connor. A right shook her up, the left followed for a huge right hook to leave Connor stunned. Referee Steve Gray leapt in to stop Connor at 1-43. Olympic bronze medallist Joshua
Buatsi was eager to make a statement and did exactly that. Andrejs
Pokumeiko engaged and landed a couple of glancing blows. But as soon as Buatsi’s left hook hurt him, the Croydon man tore in. With power behind each punch, he bombed Pokumeiko down to the canvas. The Latvian struggled back up, but Buatsi was on him at once, clearing him out with a massive left hook at only 1-56 of the first round. Winning a WBA International title will get Buatsi ranked in their top 20 too. Victor Loughlin refereed. On a night of brutal knockouts,
Anthony Fowler delivered one of the most savage. Diligently the Liverpudlian had been targeting mobile Craig
O’brien’s body with long jabs and firm one-two combinations. The Irishman leapt in off the backfoot to cuff in his shots. To start the sixth round Fowler lead with his left hook, explosive power behind it. The punch dropped him cold onto the lower ropes. Referee Jeff Hines waved it off, eight seconds in. The intensity of the fight quickly forgotten, Fowler rushed over to help put O’brien in the recovery position.
Dave Allen changed the trajectory of his career with a single punch. Only five weeks after suffering a 10 round stoppage defeat to Tony Yoka he was drafted in to fight undefeated prospect
Nick Webb on this pay-per-view bill. Ponderous over the first three rounds, Doncaster’s Allen bowled his right arm over. He caught Webb flush and left the Chertsey prospect hanging through the ropes. Webb tried to rise only to stumble back down to the canvas. Referee Robert Williams stopped him at 2-59.
Being the son of a legend could well be a burden. Conor Benn has inherited his father Nigel’s fighting spirit, and needed it in his rematch with rugged Frenchman Cedrick Peynaud. Benn moved round him, but with his hands too low, he absorbed far too many shots. Conor never managed to dissuade his opponent. A slip, incorrectly ruled a knockdown, in the second round and then dropping Peynaud properly in the seventh and ninth helped him on the way to a points victory, 98-91, 98-90 and 97-90. Howard Foster refereed. Enfield’s Frank Buglioni broke down
Emmanuel Feuzeu, hurting him with hooks to the body, a long right uppercut catching the Spaniard cleanly. Feuzeu was pulled out after six rounds. Referee was Kieran Mccann.
Canning Town’s Charlie Duffield pressed Reinis Porozovs, forcing the Latvian out after three rounds. Walworth’s
Richard Riakporhe beat Derby’s Elvis Dube but given that no one was allowed into the arena to watch him, how he did it will have to remain a mystery. bn
THE VERDICT Whyte and Chisora come through brawls and now big fights beckon in future.