This past Saturday night at the Manchester Arena, as the pay-per-view co-feature to Anthony Joshua vs. Eric Molina, Dillian Whyte earned a split points decision over Dereck Chisora in a thrilling fight
Chisora was fighting under the threat of a two-year ban after hurling a press conference table in the acrimonious pre-fight build-up. Whyte secured verdicts of 115-114 and 115-113 on two cards while Chisora edged the third by a point after a close and explosive contest.
The pair captured the imagination of the 21,000 capacity crowd in a contest with ebbed and flowed with each fighter appearing on the verge of being stopped at numerous points.
After eleven rounds of pure ward, such a solid heavyweight fight deserved a grand finale and the pair provided it in the last, exchanging right hands and sharing an embrace at the final bell before the verdict, which the majority of the crowd greeted with boos.
Whyte is open to the idea of a rematch, and he believes Chisora turned back the clock by putting in his best ring performance in several years.
"It was an excellent fight and there may be a potential rematch there," said Whyte to Sky Sports. "But we will see what Eddie [Hearn, promoter] wants to do and where he wants to go with it.
"I thought I won the fight by three rounds, but this is boxing, when you leave it to the judges. Credit to Chisora, he showed up. I hit him with some bombs, he hit me with some bombs and he showed up to fight. It was the best Chisora since he fought Vitali Klitschko [in 2012], in my opinion.
"Dereck is very experienced. He knows what to do to steal rounds, when to take breaks, when to have a go, so I had to out-kid and out-play him at certain points, let him unload, let him think he is getting success, and then show him that 'I'm not hurt, it's my turn now'. It is like a game of chess."
