Bloody Derek Chisora Drops Wallin Twice, Wins 12-Round Heavyweight Eliminator
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
Manchester, UK (February 12th, 2025)– In the main event of a nine-bout card at Co-op Live Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom, on Saturday, February 8, 2025, billed as ‘The Last Dance’, a bloody Derek ‘Dell Boy’ Chisora, in his last ever bout in the United Kingdom, decked Otto Wallin twice in a world heavyweight title eliminator en route to winning a unanimous 12 round decision.
Chisora, also called ‘War’, 36-13 with 23 knockouts, London, United Kingdom, came forward and took the bout inside, down and dirty from the opening round, leaving the southpaw Wallin, 27-3 with 13 knockouts, Sundsvall, Sweden, without much of an offense or an alternate game plan.
Chisora did a great deal of body and head work to win the first five rounds. There was a major head clash in the fifth round which referee John Latham ruled was an accidental butt. A counter left hook in round five from Wallin either opened up the ugly cut above Chisora’s right eyelid, or the cut emerged from the accidental head butt which followed. Whatever the case, referee John Latham, after checking with the ringside doctor, allowed the bout to continue as the right eye itself was not injured.
Chisora appeared to win the seventh, eighth, and ninth round as Wallin held when he could, but did not counter offensively enough to win rounds. A wild overhand right hook from Chisora to the top of Wallin’s temple sent an off-balance Wallin stumbling backward onto his back in round nine for a 10-8 Chisora round.
The pace slowed in rounds 10 and 11, coasting rounds for Chisora, won by Wallin. Chisora went southpaw at times, trying to protect the eye, which had been spurting blood in round nine, from becoming worse, thus conceding the rounds, with some wild hooks that missed. A few landed. Chisora opened up in round 12, finally unleashing a brutal barrage combination of head and body blows sending Wallin to the canvas for another 10-8 round. The deafening roar of the crowd of over 13 thousand in attendance for Chisora’s British ”Swan Song final ring appearance prevented the referee, counting over Wallin the floor and after he got up, from hearing the final bell signifying the bout was indeed over as Wallin hot up.
At Age 41, the veteran Chisora was in the best physical condition of his career, and it showed down the stretch where it was needed. With unshakable courage and resolve, and the heart of a wounded lion in battle fighting to the death, Chisora outclassed Wallin, age 34. And in doing so did something Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua could not do by dropping him. Chisora dropped Wallin not once, but twice.
In the end, not looking to leave the bout to the cards, and after pacing himself perfectly, Chisora finished Wallin. The defeated Wallin beat the count, but Wallin was in effect completely done. If the bout was not over when Wallin got up, the referee would really have had to stop it. Wallin’s soul and spirit were hopelessly broken in the end, and it showed.
When Chisora’s eye was spurting blood, and he had to fight through the storm, Wallin had the magnificent opportunity to attack the eye with everything he had to get the referee and the ringside doctor to stop the bout. Wallin, however, could not back Chisora up, and continued to frequently fall for the Dell Boy possum trap, Chisora waiting on the ropes appearing tame to bait Wallin in. Chisora fought this bout Rocky Marciano style, and that was the game plan. Chisora gave away almost in four inches in height and four inches of reach. However, Chisora, at 259 pounds, outweighed Wallin by 20 pounds. Chisora, it can be told, missed often loading up on the right hand. Wallin did not want to be on the receiving end. We all remember Rocky Marciano’s famous right hand knockout of Jersey Joe Walcott at Municipal Stadium on September 23, 1952.
The issue for Wallin was the Co-op Arena ring was a considerably small ring, and Wallin really did not have any room to run to evade Chisora. This enabled Chisora, despite his many misses, to nail Wallin twice. The wild overhand right haymaker which Chisora caught Wallin with appeared to catch Chisora, the entire arena in attendance, and even Wallin himself by surprise. It was a ‘WTF?’ delayed reaction punch which sent the off balance Wallin backwards in clumsy slow motion. Chisora’s punch got there, which was the key point. The grater key point of the punch is it enabled the referee and the ringside doctor to have a good case to let the bout continue and ultimately go the distance despite Chisora’s bloody right eye cut.
By decking Wallin at the end of the bout and finishing him, Chisora made a great statement without words, which goes “I have clearly won this International Boxing Federation heavyweight elimination bout in Manchester, and I have qualified myself as the deserving person to fight the IBF title bout winner of Daniel Dubois versus Joseph Parker on February 22, 2025, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.”
With three big wins over Kubrat Pulev, Joe Joyce, and Otto Wallin, Dereck Chisora proved ‘he who dances last, dances best’. For the 49-bout gatekeeper of the heavyweight division, it opened up the gates to a remarkable world title opportunity in Twilight, nobody could have predicted. It was like saying Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson, James Jeffries, Floyd Patterson, Mike Tyson, and Sonny Liston somehow earned another world title shot long after the prime of their careers. The history of the heavyweight division has only promised failure for the former marquee names.
Somehow Chisora overcame the history of the prizefighting ring, which has left the ghosts of Bert Sugar, Hank Kaplan and Nat Fleischer shaking their heads. It just is not possible what Chisora accomplished. Joe Joyce is a fighter who finished the current IBF champion, Daniel Dubois. Kubrat Pulev holds the WBA regular heavyweight title, earned after losing a rematch with Chisora. Wallin fought Tyson Fury to the death, and Anthony Joshua too, and neither of them could do anything with Wallin, let along drop him, which Chisora did not once, but twice, including the 12th round championship round ending coup-de-gras. Pulev, Joyce, and Wallin showed up to tune up on Chisora. Intead, Chisora tuned up on them.
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