Derek Chisora is the mandatory challenger for IBF

For every close fight Chisora was "robbed" in, there's one that went his way too.

He hasn't really done enough to justify another shot since losing his last to Fury tbh. Parker and Kabayel are more deserving.

 

Seriously? Man, the HW division has sucked ass for the last 15 years

 

As long as you're British, you deserve a chance regardless of the number of losses, and that's what casual fans accept. Dubois will crush Chisora, and I also hope that Parker vs. Joshua happens so that Parker can dismantle him...

 

Tbf out of the division who actually has better recent wins than Chisora who isn't either coming off of a loss or doesn't already hold a belt including interim/regular?

Chisora is game and fought everyone and has lucked out in this case in that a lot of the older challengers either have a title/title shot or have lost recently and the younger, up and coming guys are still building.

Its a case of being in the Right place at the right time, which Chisora deserves since he has always fought everyone where he can. Other fighters will carefully try mold their careers towards a title shot and avoid opponents, fight irregularly etc.

 

Parker definitely is.

Kabayel... I don't think there's much between them - if Kabayel deserves it, then Chisora does, too.

Kabayel's far more hyped than Chisora, mostly for beating Zhang (3-3-1 against top 200) and a couple of way overhyped guys who hadn't done much... but he's only really had one good win recently and his best before that (by a decent distance) is Chisora himself 7-8 years ago.

I guess I just don't fully understand why so many are desperate for Kabayel to be deserving? I know we all need something to get excited about and he looked good recently, but the hype seems to be getting way ahead of him IMHO

 

I'm not sold on Kabayel yet either, but he does have the best recent wins outside of the champs and Parker and he has looked good doing it, three body shot KOs at heavyweight is nuts. It's easy to see where the hype is coming from.

 

It's a lot of losses for sure.

Equally... If you were to rank fighters purely on their resume of who they've fought (ignoring win/lose/draw) then Chisora would be way out ahead of the rest of the division... And being essentially the top gatekeeper, it's not surprising he has losses.

Yes they count, but the obsession (not you, necessarily, but in general) with low loss-count can only encourage fighters to stick to easier fights and take less risks... Which for fans means less good fights?

 

It basically all hinges on how much you value hype, though - that's the problem.

Yes, Zhang's a good win - but is it as good as it's being made out? Zhang's resume is thin and inconsistent.

Then Makhmudov and Sanchez were both mega hyped for what were essentially unproven prospects with no significant wins behind them.

 

Would be funnier if Chisora nailed Dubois.

 

Salty much?

 

AJ already beat Parker easily enough the first time chances are if Parker is more aggressive this time AJ stops him.

 

Could add another 5 years to that

 

this is terrible lol. if the dubois fight happens first and usyk beats him i hope usyk choses legacy over bs fights for belts but i don't think he will.

 

if this is dubois next fight thats hilarious. another older fighter that won't move there head out of the way of his punches.

 

I don't personally value hype very highly, but a lot of people do and at the end of the day boxing is in the entertainment business so hype goes a long way.

Yeah those guys were relatively unproven, Sanchez clearly injured, and the blueprint for old Zhang was well known. Its still fun to see how far Kabayel can get with his style though, literally looks like he is working The heavy bag in the ring sometimes lol, but with his defense it could come unstuck quick.