By Edward Chaykovsky
According to Dereck Chisora, he's not intimidated at all by British heavyweight champion Dillian Whyte.
The two have exchanges a lot of verbal jabs through social media, but their tensions were raised back in May when Chisora crashed a press conference to announce Whyte's ring return following last December's knockout loss to Anthony Joshua.
There are ongoing discussions between their promoters to match them in the coming months, but it's not exactly clear when it will happen.
Whyte (19-1, 15KOs) has racked up three wins since returning to action. In his last fight, earlier this month, he stopped former sparring partner Ian Lewison to capture the British crown in Glasgow.
Whyte put himself on the map when he gave current IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua his stiffest test last December. Whyte was able to rock Joshua in the second round and made it a real fight until he was knocked out in the seventh. He suffered a shoulder injury during the contest which required surgery.
Last month, Chisora (26-6, 18KOs) bounced back from his twelve round split decision loss to Kubrat Pulev. He got a knockout win over Drazan Janjanin in Stockholm.
"There have been talks, but it's all cat and mouse," Chisora exclusively told Sky Sports. "From the last I heard, the fight was not on, but now it's on. We don't know what's happening. I love fighting, I don't hide from nobody. He's not going to trouble me, I know that for a fact. It will be a great fight for myself and for those who are going to pay to come and watch it."
Chisora was not impressed with Whyte's victory over Lewison. He also says Whyte made a big mistake by changing his team around.
"It was a great stage for Ian Lewison to be on, he's never boxed for a British title. I said before that Ian has only got four rounds in him, so if he hits Dillian in the four rounds, Dillian will go, but it didn't happen in four rounds so after four rounds we knew he was going to lose the fight," Chisora said.
"That won't happen to me. Dillian is not a scary fighter. I've been in the ring with scary fighters, with great champions, and Dillian is nothing. He hasn't got anything that I haven't seen. I'll stop Dillian. He was more of a great fighter when he was with his old trainer. Now he's gone to Mark Tibbs, he's become very predictable."