“I know I broke two things. His hand and his rib, because right now he can’t speak and stand,” Chisora said at the post-fight press conference.
In the world of heavyweights, especially for a guy like Chisora, who is at the end of the road, that “moral victory” is a way to preserve his brand. If he can say, “Yeah, he won, but look at the condition of him,” that keeps his stock high with fans who value toughness over technical scoring.
Claiming he broke Wilder’s body is his way of saying he was the alpha in the ring. By highlighting injuries, he backs up his claim that he took Wilder into deep water where the “Bronze Bomber” couldn’t handle the physicality.
It’s a clever diversion. When we talk about Wilder’s broken ribs, we’re not talking about Chisora’s 14th career loss or the fact that he may not have many rounds left in the tank.
“He has power for the first three rounds and then after he fades, but he always has that power,” Chisora said.
That’s a compliment if ever I heard one. On the face of it, Chisora acknowledges that Wilder is dangerous, but then he implies that Wilder is a three-round fighter who is coasting for the rest of the night.
“The ropes were very loose. I went to the ropes, he fell into me, pushed me, said break, and it broke. I went through the ropes, they started counting. The second time they took a point, and it still counted me out. But I don’t understand why,” Chisora said about being knocked out by Wilder through the ropes in the eighth round.
It sounds like Chisora is trying to build a conspiracy of circumstances to explain away the loss. When a fighter starts complaining about the ropes, the referee’s score, and the points deduction all in one breath, it usually means they have trouble accepting that the other guy simply had their number.
Chisora’s claim that Wilder “fell on me, pushed me” is a way to destroy a blow. In his mind, he didn’t go down because of a punch; he went down because of Wilder’s weight and the loose ropes. However, if a punch lands, even a cursory one, and a fighter goes through the ropes, referees are trained to call it a knockdown because the ropes are the only thing keeping the fighter from hitting the canvas.
Chisora (35-14, 23 KOs) also sounded uncertain about what comes next, admitting he does not know if he will fight again after what he described as a long and demanding career.
“Do I still want to fight again?” Chisora said.
If he does end up fighting again, here’s what that “final fight” build-up was really about: By calling it a retirement bout, Chisora turned a standard heavyweight clash into a “must-see” historic event.
This probably secured him a much bigger purse and a headline slot on the first MF Pro card. It’s much easier to sell tickets for “The Last War” than for Chisora’s 14th attempt to get back into the win column.
