Most heavyweight announcements focus on belts or mandatory positions, but the sight in Times Square today revealed a much rarer story. When Deontay Wilder and Derek Chisora step into the ring at The O2 Arena on April 4, they won’t just be fighting for victory. It is much more than that. The two 40-year-olds will celebrate a century of professional fighting.
In a sport where the elite often fight once a year, both men enter their 50th professional fight on the same night.
It’s a testament to a brand of “old school” activity that is dying out in the heavyweight division. To put that number in perspective, it took Muhammad Ali 21 years to reach 50 fights. Wilder and Chisora have achieved this in the modern era of hyper-compiled records and massive layoffs.
“War” Chisora, this is the end of the road. At 42, he survived a gauntlet that would have retired three lesser men. With a vintage win over Otto Wallin in 2025, Chisora is actually the good fighter here. He has spent his career as the ultimate test, and he views his 50th fight as the perfect closing chapter for a legacy built on toughness.
For the 40-year-old Wilder, 50 is not a finish line. The former WBC heavyweight champion is trying to rebuild. After a rough patch between 2021 and 2024, his June 2025 knockout of Tyrrell Herndon showed that the “equalizer” still works.
Wilder is not looking for a graceful exit. That’s not what this fight is about. The Bronze Bomber wants to use Chisora’s hometown crowd as a stage to prove he belongs back in the conversation with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Promoters Amer Abdallah and Kalle Sauerland are betting on the “shootout” nature of this match. While many see it as a celebration of two legends, this fight hints at a darker reality: the loser of this 50th fight is likely to leave their gloves in the middle of the ring.
Wilder is gambling his entire 2026 campaign on a man who specializes in making fights ugly. If Chisora can drag the “Bronze Bomber” into the late rounds, the 50th fight for both could end up being the last one for both.
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Last updated on 02/02/2026
