Deontay Wilder says he deliberately changed tactics to avoid punishing Derek Chisora too badly
“The Bronze Bomber” Deontay Wilder (45-4-1, 43 KOs) battered Derek Chisora (36-14, 23 KOs) on April 4 at The O2 in London if what was the Briton’s 50th and final fight.
The 42-year-old veteran was down once in the eighth round, but was tottering around, bruised and exhausted for much of the 12-round heavyweight contest.
After the fight, former WBC world champion Wilder admitted to carrying Chisora, claiming that he didn’t want to inflict too much damage on the world title contender from Finchley.
“I was telling him in the ring as I started to see his eyes swell and his temple start to buckle a bit,” Wilder said post-fight.
“I said, ‘Bro, you’ve got to live for your kids. I don’t want to hurt you too much longer.’
“I started having fun in there because I saw my brother starting to get hurt.
“I looked after Derek tonight. I didn’t want to go too hard on him because I saw his temple. The veins started coming out of his head.
“I wanted him to live for his kids. It’s time for us to take care of each other.”
BBN Editor, Tim Rickson, responded to the claims, “Entertaining fight, certainly not ‘Fight of the Year’ like the Daily Mail outrageously claimed. To be a fight of the year contender, there has to be a high level of skill involved.
“Fighters are there to fight, so if one fighter in the ring holds back and doesn’t do what they are there to do, what they are paid and expected to do, then it seems wrong, to me. If Wilder did actually hold back and let Chisora off the hook, then how many more punches did he take over the many following rounds? Also, how many more punches did Wilder take by staying in there for longer when he didn’t have to? All sounds a bit unnecessary to me.”
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