David Haye: Usyk Not Built For Heavyweight
When it comes to his upcoming May 23 prizefight with former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (17-0, 13 KO’s), Dereck “War” Chisora (32-9, 23 KO’s) has openly admitted he is not the better boxer. He is neither upset nor overly worried about this notable impediment. Likewise, his team and supporting cast largely feel the same way.
While supplying an exclusive interview to Sky Sport Boxing, Chisora’s manager and former boxer, David Haye expressed most of the same sentiments that War laid out at the fight announcement. Similar to Chisora, Haye openly stated that War would not stand a chance trying to defeat Usyk in a pure boxing contest. This is not to say that Haye didn’t think that his charge could walk away victorious.
SAVAGERY OVER SKILLS
According to the whole of Team Chisora, the road to success is one that will see Chisora being the bigger and more physically imposing man. With a little more than two months to go, Chisora and his crew are freely letting the world know they are coming to supply a rough and tumble brawl.
“He can’t have a boxing match with someone who’s a superior boxer, he can’t expect his footwork to come anywhere close to what Usyk’s can produce. The angles, the speed, the timing, his amateur pedigree, his undisputedness, his undefeatedness. The guy has made no mistakes in his career so far and it’s not like he’s been looked after. He’s been in genuine, bonafide world title fights and he’s a dangerous customer.”
“Although he is significantly a better long-range boxer and more skilled, this is a heavyweight boxing contest. It’s not like any other weight-governed weight category. These guys are not evenly matched. Dereck is naturally thirty kilograms bigger. His wrist, his hands, his shoulders, his skeleton is significantly heavier than Usyk.”
“He’s just a bigger man all around, so that is something that Usyk hasn’t had to deal with before. And if he has had to deal with that size, it’s been in an amateur form, where the punches were a lot more long-range and the referees wanted some boxing. This is going to be a dog-fight. Dereck is going to get close to him, put his head in his chest and beat the living day lights out of you.”
CORNER, CATCH AND CRUSH
Given the massive amount of respect that Team Chisora is giving to Usyk’s tremendous skillset, they understand that the Ukrainian will not simply hand War the win. They also understand no matter how rough and rugged Chisora will seek to make fight, they will have to overcome Usyk’s impressive footwork. This is why a great portion of the training camp is dedicated simply to catching and trapping the former cruiserweight dynamo.
“We’re putting in slick southpaws who are trying to stay away from him. Some are going to hold their feet, some are going to go toe-to-toe. But he needs to learn to cut the ring off significantly better than he has done in previous fights because if he doesn’t, he won’t get close enough to land the big shots. So, it’s about cutting the ring off and getting inside.”
NO FEAR
Being the imposing and unpredictable person that he is, Chisora is used to being able to intimidate, or at least unsettle, a number of his former opponents. However, when Chisora looks at Usyk, he views a man that is confident in his abilities and sure of his ability to win.
“Now that he’s looked at Usyk in the eyes, as he said, ‘I didn’t see anything there,’ he said he didn’t see one flicker of nervousness, not one ounce of unconfident vibes at all. And I was looking in his eyes, he was rock solid. Why should Usyk fear Chisora? He’s beaten world champions, Olympic gold medalists, you know, he’s the man, pound-for-pound.”
Given the great level of respect that Team Chisora has for Usyk, and also in War’s ability to overcome his ring generalship, this upcoming prizefight should be very intriguing and enjoyable to watch.
By: Bakari Simpson
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