Derek Chisora has revealed what referee Victor Loughlin told him in the tenth round before waving off his contest with Tyson Fury.
Loughlin called a halt to the bout after Chisora was receiving a sustained beating from the champion, Fury. The fight played out like many in the sport believed it would, however the sheer grit and bravery shown by the Finchley fighter meant that he refused to quit despite being systematically beaten.
Some fans were shocked that Chisora’s corner hadn’t thrown the towel in, and Loughlin even had a word with the team in between the ninth and tenth rounds.
Despite that, they sent their man out for more of the same against the elite Fury. Loughlin took it into his own hands a couple of minutes in, stepping in and awarding a TKO victory to ‘The Gypsy King.’
Speaking to Seconds Out, Chisora revealed what was said beforehand, as well as his appreciation for Loughlin.
“The ref come to me and said ‘if you don’t do anything else, I’m going to stop it.’ And then the ref was right – I was not doing much anyway. The ref was right. The British Boxing Board of Control are right. You know, because afterwards you have to go home to your kids.”
“As fighters, you don’t wanna stop. You want to carry on, cause that’s how we’re bred. We just wanna fight, fight, fight for fifteen rounds. And that’s why the refs are there – to just look at the fight and say you know what, this is not going well.”
Despite telling the story through a swollen and bruised mouth and clearly injured jaw, ‘Del Boy’ was still positive about the fight.
“Fun. I enjoyed it.”
It perhaps proves what many already believed about ‘WAR’ Chisora – that he has the true heart of a fighter and it may be to his detriment.
Following the routine victory, Fury moves on to a fight with Oleksandr Usyk for a chance to become undisputed heavyweight champion. As for Chisora, he said he ‘doesn’t want to go out like that’ in response to people saying he should now hang up the gloves.