Dereck Chisora will face replacement opponent Otto Wallin on February 8 at Co-Op Live in Manchester. The 40-year-old veteran Chisora (35-13, 23 KOs) had planned to fight Jarrell ‘Big Baby’ Miller, but the match fell through due to promotional issues.
This fight has written first encounter in all for Wallin, who will have an easy time against the best past, Chisora. Chisora would have had a better chance against his original opponent, “Big Baby” Miller, because he is slow and his style is easy to understand.
It will be a tough sell for promoters of the Chisora-Wallin event to try and bring in a crowd for the 23,500-seat Co-Op Live venue in Manchester. The original opponent, Jarrell Miller, was marketable enough to create interest in fans wanting to watch live, but Wallin wasn’t going to create much buzz.
He’s not a trash talker like Miller, and Chisora can’t pick up the slack. With the way of speaking in a slow and labored way today, the tickets cannot be sold. This fight will test the loyalty of Chisora’s fanbase, which has stuck by his side all these years. It is not clear if it is too late for the promoters to move to a smaller place, a work of 3,500 seats.
Is Wallin too talented for Chisora?
Wallin is a decent replacement for Chisora because he could be much worse. At least Chisora will get a top-15 contender, which could be bad for him, though. At Chisora’s ripe age, he’s not a top-tier heavyweight and hasn’t been in years. Wallin has technical skills that could be a nightmare for this 40-year-old version of Chisora.
If you’ve watched Chisora’s last three fights, you’ve seen a guy who fights like he’s knee-deep in mud, and his telegraphed punches make him easy prey for a fighter of Wallin’s class.
This could be an equally tough fight for Chisora, who faces the 34-year-old Wallin (27-2, 15 KOs). Wallin does well against slower fighters who are easy for him to outbox.
Last year, on December 23, Wallin was defeated in the fifth round by former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Wallin was part of Joshua’s four-fight rebuilding job and was not selected because it was a competitive fight.
Wallin bounced back from that loss to defeat Onoriode Ehwarieme by a first-round knockout last summer on July 26 in Atlantic City.
Chisora is trying to reach 50 fights before retiring, but it is not clear if he will stay if Wallin beats him.
With his 13 career defeats, Chisora is lucky to still be on the leaderboard because elsewhere, he would not be able to do that. In the United States, Chisora would be off the main card and on the preliminary cards.
Chisora has surprisingly won three of his last five fights; his wins came against these former fighters:
– Joe Joyce: 40 years
– Gerald Washington: 42 years old
– Kubrat Pulev: 43
