By Keith Idec
Dereck Chisora hasn’t knocked out any of his last four opponents, but the London-based boxer from Zimbabwe believes that streak will end Saturday.
Chisora (15-3, 9 KOs) predicted that he’ll knock out David Haye (25-2, 23 KOs) when these brash British heavyweights meet at West Ham Football Club’s Boleyn Ground at Upton Park in London (EPIX; 4:30 p.m. EDT/1:30 p.m. PDT).
“Trust me, he’s getting knocked out,” Chisora said to promote their 12-round grudge match. “He said he’s going to knock me out in round three. He’s going down in round seven. Lucky seven.”
Chisora showed a granite chin during his 12-round unanimous decision defeat to WBC champion Vitali Klitschko (44-2, 40 KOs) on Feb. 18 in Munich, Germany, where Chisora’s controversial post-bout brawl with Haye helped lead to this fight materializing. Each of Chisora’s three losses have gone 12 rounds and other than a brutal body blow Klitschko landed in the third round of their fight, Chisora cannot remember being truly hurt in a fight since he out-pointed Welsh heavyweight Darren Morgan (5-5, 3 KOs) in a four-round bout, just the third of Chisora’s pro career.
“The guy, Darren Morgan, hit me so hard I didn’t realize where I was,” Chisora said of their October 2007 fight in London. “I came back to the corner and my trainer goes to me, ‘What’s wrong?’ … It took me about two minutes to come back [from that punch].”
The 28-year-old Chisora cannot envision the heavy-handed Haye hurting him that way when they go at it.
“David Haye’s a cruiserweight,” Chisora said. “He can only hurt you if he sees an opportunity, but we’re not going to give him an opportunity to hit me.”
The 31-year-old Haye has lost once by knockout during his 9½-year pro career.
England’s Carl Thompson (34-6, 25 KOs), who was 40 when they fought for the IBO cruiserweight championship, stopped Haye in the fifth round of their September 2004 fight in London. Thompson dropped Haye with a right hand in the fifth round, but referee Terry O’Connor stopped that fight while Haye was on his feet.
Keith Idec covers boxing for The Record and Herald News, of Woodland Park, N.J., and BoxingScene.com.
