Dillian Whyte, Dereck Chisora To Weigh-In Separately On Friday
By Elliot Foster
Dereck Chisora and Dillian Whyte will weigh-in separately on Friday.
The pair meet at the Manchester Arena on Saturday, exclusively live on Sky Sports Box Office, as part of the undercard to Anthony Joshua’s second defence of the IBF heavyweight world title against Eric Molina, with Whyte’s British heavyweight title at stake in what is also an official eliminator for the WBC world title.
And after an incident at Wednesday’s press conference at the Radisson Blu Hotel, in which Chisora threw a table in the direction of Whyte, with it narrowly missing Whyte’s trainer Mark Tibbs and Sky Sports’ head of boxing Adam Smith, the show’s promoter Eddie Hearn –– who was also a near miss with the flying table launched by ‘Del Boy’ –– confirmed that the pair will hit the scales individually at the Manchester Victoria venue where each fighter on the card will weigh-in before the big night.
“I wasn’t going to do [a head-to-head] between the pair today,” Hearn said on social media in the aftermath of the brawl, “but I’m definitely not doing one on Friday. They will [also] weigh-in separately. It’s not good for boxing but we will let them calm down, weigh-in separately and focus on the fight.”
The mouth-watering heavyweight showdown between Whyte and Chisora is part of a bill which also features the second pro outing of glittering Irish amateur Katie Taylor, while Kal Yafai bids to become Birmingham’s first world champion as he takes on WBA flyweight king Luis Concepcion of Panama.
Meanwhile, Hosea Burton defends his British light-heavyweight title in a rescheduled clash against Frank Buglioni, Callum Smith will defend his Lonsdale belt at super-middleweight against mandatory challenger Luke Blackledge in what will probably be his last fight before fighting either Badou Jack or James DeGale for the WBC and IBF world crowns at the weight and Scott Quigg returns to the ring for the first time since February, up at featherweight, against José Cayetano for the vacant WBA International crown.
It also features five other title fights, a heavyweight clash over eight rounds between Cuba’s Luis Ortiz and Conisbrough’s Dave Allen and the return of undefeated super-welterweight Marcus Morrison over six rounds.
