2026-04-02 11:13:13

Fabio Wardley has called for Derek Chisora to retire from boxing after his fight with Deontay Wilder this weekend.

The British fighter will compete in the ring for the 50th and supposedly last time against the former heavyweight world champion at London’s O2 Arena on Saturday (04.04.26) and Wardley thinks that the 42-year-old should bow out irrespective of the result.

Writing in his BBC Sport column, the WBO world title holder said: “Derek Chisora has given his heart and soul to the sport. Whether he beats Deontay Wilder or not on Saturday, I’d like to see him call it a day.

“After all the entertainment he has given us, he deserves to sit down and have five minutes to himself.

“But will he actually retire? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

“It’s a difficult decision for anyone. It’s hard to go out on a loss because you want to end your career on a high, but then once you do end on a high, you think, ‘Well, if I did that, maybe I can do one more.’

“It can become a never-ending cycle of, ‘Maybe one more’, and Derek’s been on that cycle for I don’t know how long.”

However, Wardley thinks Chisora will ultimately end his boxing career on his own terms.

He wrote: “With someone like Derek though, not many people are going to be able to tell him when he should stop. He’s going to dictate his own time and terms.

“So we can have all the concerns we want about his wellbeing, but Derek will be Derek and do what he wants.”

Chisora’s swansong fight will be against fellow veteran Wilder, 40, and Wardley believes that the clash makes “sense”, even though he was puzzled when it was first announced.

The pugilist penned: “When I first heard about him taking on Wilder – I have to be honest, it was quite a surprise.

“It seemed like both guys had bigger fish to fry – there was talk of Derek getting a world-title shot against me, and Wilder was being lined up by Oleksandr Usyk.

“Pulling away from those possibilities to fight each other was random, but the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.”

Visit Bang Premier (main website)