Derek Chisora will have a home crowd backing him against Joseph Parker
Derek Chisora is Britain’s most acquired taste but will have the backing of a home crowd against Joseph Parker on Saturday night – and both will be going for a knockout blow
- Derek Chisora is preparing to face heavyweight Joseph Parker on Saturday night
- Parker’s hopes of regaining the world heavyweight title rely on a convincing win
- Chisora wants a knockout too after falling losing a split decision in their first bout
The task for Joseph Parker sounds simple enough: keep a lid on British boxing’s most acquired taste.
Those thousands flocking into the Manchester Arena on Saturday night have learned to love Derek Chisora over time. Through it all: the wars, the wins. The defeats and the dislodged tables.
‘If you lock a guy in a room with nothing but a jar of Marmite for 24 hours a day, sooner or later he is going to love it,’ Chisora says. Should the 37-year-old reach round 24 of this peculiar rivalry, Parker might still have mixed feelings.
Derek Chisora (right) is preparing to face Joseph Parker (left) in Manchester on Saturday night
The New Zealander’s outside hopes of regaining the world heavyweight title rely on him closing this chapter in more convincing fashion. Another sluggish points win won’t do.
And he knows it: ‘I’ve developed this defensive, boring style, I want to change it up,’ Parker admits.
That should spell good news for fight fans. Because Chisora is in no mood for a long evening, either. Not after falling on the wrong end of a split decision in their first fight.
‘I am not leaving it to the judges, I am leaving that ring p****** blood. I will leave with my jaw broken, eyes swollen, anything to tear apart this motherf*****.’
Despite finding himself in the unfamiliar position as a fight’s lighter man, Chisora’s best chance remains in the first half of the fight, before he begins to chug on empty.
‘War’ (above) is Britain’s most acquired taste but will have the backing of a loud home crowd
At least for this rematch he can feed off his crowd. It’s not a luxury Chisora has always enjoyed. Not in May – inside a deserted Manchester Arena – and not for the first half of his career, when Chisora played villain on these shores.
‘One thing I have realised with British fans is once they love you they will always love you,’ he says. ‘Ricky Hatton, Frank Bruno, Nigel Benn – when people see them guys they chant their name and cheer for them, they love them.
‘If the same people hate you, you are f*****. If Audley Harrison walked into a room full of British boxing fans they would probably boo him and tell him to sit down.’
How to explain his own turnaround? Chisora posits two theories. First the PG-rated version: ‘Fans love me because I have earned it with blood and losses… I have been robbed in fights and they want me to do well.’
Then there is a more crude explanation. ‘I look at boxing a little bit like drug dealing,’ Chisora says. ‘If you have good product you will get customers coming back. If you have a s*** product, you will get no customers.’
New Zealander Parker (pictured), who won on a spilt decision back in May, needs a convincing victory to retain his outside hopes of eventually regaining boxing’s world heavyweight title
Parker shares some of his sentiment, even if chooses rather more savoury language. Having seen his career stutter since defeat by Anthony Joshua, the New Zealander knows fireworks matter. That means no more overtraining and no more of the safety-first style of recent years.
‘I was always on the front foot, making the fight happen, being more aggressive, throwing combinations. I want to go back to that,’ Parker says. ‘Stuff the boring fighting.’
Caution is a tag that has plagued Joshua. too. ‘We’re both boring together,’ laughs Parker, who is seeing a psychologist in a bid to unlock more aggression.
For this fight, his wife and three daughters have also come over. Current coronavirus restrictions mean they don’t know when they might return home. ‘If I get stuck here for I-don’t-know-how-many years, that’s the risk I was willing to take.’
Christmas in Morecambe it is, then. ‘There’s a tree already up, there’s presents underneath,’ Parker says. Victory will allow him to enjoy the festivities with his young children.
‘We’ve got a nice plan to go to Center Parcs. We might do some travel, I don’t know,’ he says. ‘They’ve never seen snow before. As soon as they arrived, it started snowing in Morecambe, they were running outside: beanies on, noses going all red.’
The Kiwi has made Lancashire a second home, training alongside Tyson Fury under new trainer Andy Lee. At Friday’s weigh-in, members of Fury’s family and team turned up in Parker clobber. The cosy relationship doesn’t sit well with Chisora.
‘He has his tongue so far up Tyson’s a*** he can taste his tonsils,’ he says.
‘I am friends with Anthony Joshua and Conor Benn… I am best friends with Nigel Farage but I am not wrapped around him every day.’
Fortunately, neither Farage nor Fury will be much use when that bell rings on Saturday night.
Parker vs Chisora II will be shown on DAZN. To sign up, visit www.dazn.com
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