LONDON – The mad world of Derek Chisora is madder even than the boxing world he lives in.
On a spring Wednesday in Central London, Chisora reaches out his hand and politely says, “How are you?”
The skies are blue, traffic is steady and people stop and stare at the heavyweight contender as he mooches from café to café with BoxingScene in tow.
He waves to restaurant owners, chats with others and ultimately decides where to go to conduct this interview and a separate one with The Guardian’s venerable Donald McRae.
We go into a back room of a boujee eatery with hefty cutlery, traditional tablecloths and mahogany panels on the walls.
Somehow, Chisora knew Nigel Farage, head of the political party Reform, was in the building, and the fighter asked his waiter to go and fetch one of the UK’s most influential politicians to visit him at his table.
“Tell him Derek Chisora’s here,” Chisora informs the staff member.
Moments later, Farage arrives.
They’ve been pictured together before, “Delboy” and Nigel, but the Five Guys-eating heavyweight shakes hands with the politician and they make jovial small talk before Farage returns to his table and Chisora goes back to his interviews.
Is it surreal for London’s Chisora that, as a child born in Zimbabwe, he has power and influence that reaches far beyond boxing?
“Oh, yeah,” Chisora says, smiling nonchalantly.
“Have you seen my phone book? It’s a badass phone book.”
“Can I look?” he’s asked.
“I can’t show you. It’s mad.”
“Who would you say is the most famous person in that phone book, then?”
“Anthony Joshua,” he says, smiling.
“But don’t your kids go to school together?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve got Donald Trump Jnr and a lot of people.”
“Is there any political future for you? Is that something that you want to go into?”
“Nah. I’d like to be the guy in the background.”
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Derek Chisora is not often in the background. He is at the forefront, making his considerable presence felt, heckling, joking, and he is far from the rear of the heavyweight pack.
Having run up high career mileage, the 49-bout veteran Chisora (36-13, 23 KOs) puts his recent winning form down to the good will of God. Yet it wasn’t His heavy hands that saw off Gerald Washington, Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin in the past three fights of what has become an impressive late act for the 42-year-old Chisora.
But people, like yours truly, have been pleading with Chisora to retire for years. The wars…
2026-04-01 11:00:00
Derek Chisora has heard and seen it all as he heads into fight No. 50
