Derek Chisora finally has an opponent—and a familiar face, to boot—for a long-targeted July date.
The veteran heavyweight trialhorse is set to rematch Bulgaria’s Kubrat Pulev in a battle of former title challengers set for July 9 at The O2 in London. The bout will headline a DAZN Show that was formally announced by Matchroom Boxing on Tuesday.
“I’m delighted to get this fight over the line,” Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport chairman and Chisora’s promoter, stated.
“Initially we worked on some other opponents for Derek, but this fight came out of nowhere a few days ago and I absolutely love it! I think the strapline, ‘Total Carnage’, is absolutely perfect for this fight, in terms of the build-up and in terms of the fight itself.
The fight comes more than six years after their May 2016 semifinal title eliminator, which saw Pulev (29-2, 14KOs) claim a twelve-round split decision in Hamburg, Germany. Chisora (32-13, 23KOs) won five fights in a row prior to that point following a repeat loss to Tyson Fury, with the Pulev fight serving as a pattern of falling short at the contender level in the twilight of his career.
The 38-year-old London-based heavyweight enters this fight having lost three straight. An October 2020 unanimous decision defeat to Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13KOs)—the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who went on to dethrone WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua—was followed by consecutive losses to former WBO heavyweight titlist Joseph Parker including their rematch thriller last December.
Chisora—whose lone career title challenge came in a March 2012 loss to then-WBC champ Vitali Klitschko—now returns to the source of his previous three-fight win streak, all coming at The O2 where he appears for the eighth time. He was previously in talks to face Brooklyn's Adam Kownacki, before negotiations ceased altogether which led Matchroom to move on to the next available heavyweight for the date.
Pulev enjoys his quickest career turnaround since 2015, having soundly outpointed Jerry Forrest on May 14 in the greater Los Angeles area. The 41-year-old—who has twice challenged for the heavyweight title—claimed his first win under pure boxing rules since November 2019. The fight itself was his first in a boxing ring since a December 2020 knockout loss to Joshua, who was still the unified heavyweight titlist at the time.
Mixed in between, Pulev scored a first-round knockout against UFC legend Frank Mir in a hybrid Triad Combat fight last November in Arlington, Texas.
“Expect the unexpected but expect a thriller at The O2 on July 9,” insists Hearn. “Both men have been longstanding fixtures of the World Heavyweight division and it’s all or nothing at The O2 for both, as defeat could lead to the end of the road. Fans can expect a huge undercard and a brilliant main event for another brilliant event live on DAZN.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox