Derek Chisora’s new trick: promoting Donald Trump and Nigel Farage
It underlines the zany life and times of cult British heavyweight prizefighter Derek Chisora that he wears a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to a pre-fight weigh-in.
Boxers occasionally rub shoulders with A-list celebrities but in the build-up to his bout with Joe Joyce, Chisora has become mates with Reform leader Nigel Farage as well as endorsing Donald Trump in his bid to become US president for a second time.
In addition to attending a Trump fundraiser in Chelsea last month, Chisora has invited Donald Trump Jnr to Saturday night’s showdown with Joyce at the O2 Arena.
Chisora said on Friday that Barron Trump, Trump’s youngest son, “will be ringside” when the pair collide in a clash of titans. Joyce, known as ‘Juggernaut’, could have played rugby for England, but Chisora brings the X-factor. Weird and wacky, and now a past master at promoting.
Derek Chisora has invited Donald Trump Jr to his fight against Joe Joyce this weekend in the UK. The fight will be broadcast on TNT Sports. Full coverage here.
📽️@DerekWarChisora pic.twitter.com/jpgykcr82l— Boxing Kingdom (@BoxingKingdom14) July 26, 2024
Chisora’s opponent Joyce, a dangerous heavyweight who weighed in at 280lbs on Friday, 40lbs heavier than Chisora, is a huge favourite, yet it is hard to write off 40-year-old Chisora, in his 48th fight, in spite of critics having proclaimed he was past his best long ago.
It was 12 years ago Chisora was knocked out by David Haye; 13 years ago that he went 12 rounds with Vitaly Klitschko in a losing cause; and three times the Finchley heavyweight has lost to Tyson Fury. In short, Chisora has fought everyone. He even clashed with a Deliveroo driver in the build-up to this fight but his nights with Joseph Parker, Dillian Whyte and Oleksandr Usyk are not to be forgotten.
Chisora once told me in a serialised interview for DAZN that when he is dead and buried, “I might be six-feet under, but I’ll be hammering on the coffin for another fight.” Dark and bizarre. Yet Derek down to a tee. It is also why he changed his ring sobriquet from ‘Del Boy’ to ‘War’ – and he will bring war in Docklands, for as long as it lasts.
If Joyce is not on his mettle, the Rio Olympics silver medallist will have a rough, tough night against Chisora, a man who knows how to show and display in a ring. Wearing a tight black bowler hat this week, Chisora played an ‘Odd Job’ figure from a Bond movie, trying to wind up an implacable Joyce. In addition to his MAGA Trump cap, Chisora also wore a Zhilei Zhang mask to mock Joyce following his two devastating losses to the Chinese fighter.
Fascinating to watch. Chisora has come a long way. On a personal level, I’ve had a close relationship with both men for a long time. I once ‘destroyed’ Chisora in a snowball fight in Munich, 30 hours before he brawled with Haye at the post-fight event with Klitschko, Chisora can be difficult, irascible and complex. Yet he is an incredible warrior. The narrative of his life is extraordinary.
Public schoolboy in Zimbabwe, and privileged. He came to north London, sailed on the wrong side of the tracks, and boxing became his saviour. It is a weird and wacky story.
“This will be my farewell dance party. The saddest day of my whole career,” Chisora said this week, complimented by Usyk, the undisputed heavyweight champion as “the hardest puncher he has ever faced”.
Chisora will need all that vim and vigour against Joyce, who needs the optics of a dramatic stoppage finish to get back into the big time in the heavyweight ranks following his two losses to Zhang.
Joyce has looked composed all week. “I have not let Chisora get under my skin. I know how good he is at it. I need to get my career back on track,” Joyce told Telegraph Sport.
“I’ve had a terrific camp, and I know I need to be at my best. This will be exciting as long as it lasts. I want to fight Joshua, Dubois, Parker, Usyk and Fury. I want them all.”
Turning 39 in September, Joyce must regain an ascendancy in this fight if he is to do that and should have the fight over by the eighth round. At 40, Chisora has nothing to lose but as shown with his latest Farage-Trump alliance he knows how to cause a stir and sell a fight.