adminChisora rescued his boxing career with his most significant victory to date by stopping Scott in the sixth round but for all that the win was impressive there is a risk it will remain shrouded in controversy.
Landing a powerful overhand right to Scott’s head with the American trapped against the ropes, Zimbabwe-born Chisora watched as his opponent was counted out after hitting the floor and lost his undefeated record when referee Victor Loughlin waved the fight off despite him returning to his feet.
If his physical condition suggested Scott was in a position to continue his body language unquestionably said the opposite. Even Chisora appeared surprised at the stoppage but tellingly the strongest outrage came from his trainer Jesse Reid and not the fighter himself.
“He got up on eight,” Reid repeatedly screamed. “Bulls**t! Bulls**t,” but by then it was too late and Scott knew that, particularly given the reality that the ref’s count had reached nine before he actually rose.
Chisora, who had lost four of his last six fights and revealed strict words from his mother and promoter Frank Warren had given him a new focus, wasted little time in imposing his routinely high work-rate from the start of the fight on the American, knowing that closing the distance between the two represented perhaps his greatest chance of victory.
It was from the fourth that the fight’s pattern began to change. There was a slower pace to Scott’s output — given he is considered the more polished of the two and previously undefeated in 36 that no doubt was a concern — and Chisora’s bigger punches, not long after Scott was warned for leading with the elbow, were beginning to land.
As the former’s confidence grew Scott’s visibly decreased. The Finchley fighter was beginning to gain some control over the affair but even then a stoppage in no way looked imminent.
After two minutes and 56 seconds of the sixth, however, it regardless came. Not for the first time the intimidating Chisora stalked his opponent and forced him up against the ropes but this time, when he landed, Scott — to the ref’s mind at least — was not to rise.
“I was more nervous than I ever have been before any fight because I knew how important it was not to lose,” Chisora said afterwards as promoter Frank Warren revealed he would fight again at the Copperbox Arena on September 21.
“But I felt him fading and got the job done.
“It was controversial. The first three rounds he had good speed but in the third round his power started going. And he started talking. You know when someone starts talking you know that they’ve run out of gas.”
“I feel good in myself right now, everything is great,” Chisora had said the day before the fight.
If those were his true feelings then, when more was at risk than ever, he will now feel even better in the knowledge that this win was his finest.
“Dereck had to win this fight because there was nowhere for him to go if he lost,” admitted Warren. “He showed mental as well as physical toughness in there, because he knew a loss and it would be tough to come back again. Period.”
It had been an absorbing contest. The pair went to work in the first round at a decent pace, Scott showing his silkier skills. The British heavyweight wore Scott’s punches easily, landing a good right upper cut out of a combination. — Mailonline.
Online Reporter