LONDON — It was a repeat for Dillian Whyte as he produced an emphatic knockout of rival Dereck Chisora in Round 11 on Saturday night in London to set up a big 2019 that could potentially see a shot at unified heavyweight world titleholder Anthony Joshua.
It was a back-and-forth battle at London’s O2 Arena in a rematch of the pair’s 2016 classic. Chisora had the better of the early rounds but seemed to punch himself out, showing signs of fatigue from the seventh round onward.
DEAR DAMN! WOW! #Boxing #WhyteChisora2 #KO #knockout https://t.co/kMOx9k6AW6
— wildmatt (@wildmatt) December 22, 2018
The end came with Whyte catching Chisora with his guard down, connecting a left hand to the chin to send him crashing down to the canvas.
After the fight, Whyte called out Joshua.
“I want that lanky piece of s— over there. Let’s go,” Whyte said of Joshua. “I deserve my shot, I’ve worked my way up.”
Joshua was polite on his response.
“Credit to Dillian, but you know how the list goes,” Joshua said. “If it’s not Deontay Wilder, and Whyte gets made, I don’t want to hear boos.”
Chisora came out of the blocks fast, perhaps recklessly so, in the first round, landing several powerful blows to Whyte’s body early in the round. However, with poor defense, Chisora left himself wide open to several heavy blows, even rocking back toward the ropes when he was hit with a solid right uppercut by Whyte.
Things settled down in the second, but Whyte still had the better of the action — smartly working well behind his jab, inviting Chisora to walk into several heavy hits.
Coming out with a renewed verve in the third, Chisora forced a flurry of heavy hits through Whyte’s guard. More combinations from Chisora found their way through in the fourth — it was now Chisora who simply couldn’t miss, thudding several body shots into Whyte’s torso.
Two thudding blows found their way to Whyte’s head early in the fifth to continue Chisora’s momentum, the latter knocking him briefly off balance. Chisora also continued to work well to the body.
The tempo dropped a tad in the sixth. Whyte still working off the back foot, trying to make his jab work for him. However, Chisora was still managing to outbox the favorite.
Whyte’s counterpunching from the opening rounds made a reappearance in the seventh. The jabs started to work, and Chisora started to miss. Toward the end of the round, Chisora swung for a heavy right hook, missed and allowed Whyte to tag him with a flurry of punches in the corner. The tide was turning; Chisora was starting to tire.
A point penalty for leaning into the clinch once too often for Chisora in the eighth brought jeers from the crowd. Whyte was starting to show why many had tipped him to outbox his brawler opponent — taking the ninth and the 10th rounds.
Another point came off Chisora in the 11th, this time for an elbow, similar to the ones Whyte had been guilty of a couple of times earlier in the fight. The penalties for Chisora would have proved controversial had the fight gone the distance, but Whyte found the finish in brutal fashion.
Chisora went for a combination on the ropes, but with his guard down, Whyte had a clear route to catch his adversary flush in the chin in what will surely be a contender for knockout of the year. Despite forging a reputation for a granite chin throughout his career, there was no chance of Chisora rising from the ashes in Fury-esque style.
