{"id":574484,"date":"2026-03-30T16:13:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:13:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574484\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T16:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T16:13:08","slug":"boxing-is-a-dirty-business-like-politics-bro-derek-chisora-on-nigel-farage-brain-damage-and-burgers-derek-chisora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/574484\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Boxing is a dirty business, like politics, bro\u2019: Derek Chisora on Nigel Farage, brain damage and burgers | Derek Chisora"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNigel\u2019s here,\u201d Derek Chisora<\/a> says as he gives me a nudge when we walk into a restaurant called Boisdale in Belgravia. The great old warhorse of British boxing and I have been ambling around this stretch of London in search of a place where we can sit down and talk. He settles on Boisdale, which tags itself as \u201ca British restaurant\u201d and \u201ca carnivore\u2019s delight\u201d.<\/p>\n

Even though we are not dropping in for lunch Chisora has enough of a swagger to blag us a private room to chat. We look more ragged than the diners, including Nigel Farage, and I\u2019m not sure that the seemingly bewildered staff have a clear idea who Chisora is but we sweep through the restaurant, climb the stairs and find ourselves in a discreet room. After Chisora orders a bottle of water for us to share he asks the waiter to let Farage know that he is here.<\/p>\n

Chisora is deep in training for his 50th and perhaps final fight against Deontay Wilder on Saturday night. \u201cI think everybody fears the end,\u201d Chisora says when I ask if he worries about life without boxing. \u201cLet\u2019s be honest. Everybody fears the end of their marriage, the end of their life. Everybody\u2019s got an end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisora knows many us were urging him to retire more than three years ago<\/a> when it seemed even then that he had shipped far too much damage in the ring. But his popularity has surged and he is on an impressive run of three straight victories against credible opponents including Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin. Wilder is a former world champion, who is also entering his 50th fight, and Chisora could end his career on an incredible high at the O2 in London.<\/p>\n

Derek Chisora is 42 but on an impressive run after three victories on the bounce. Photograph: Linda Nylind\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Wilder looked a shell of the fighter he once had been when losing badly on points to Joseph Parker<\/a> and then being stopped in the fifth round by Zhilei Zhang<\/a> in 2024. He has fought only once since then, beating a journeyman, but Chisora cautions that \u201cright now he\u2019s very wounded and that\u2019s a very dangerous man to fight. He\u2019s desperate.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many years Wilder was described as the hardest-hitting heavyweight in history. He lost twice to Tyson Fury, and drew their first fight, but Wilder dropped the King of the Gypsies four times. Fury has never been the same again and so Chisora needs to be careful. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be electric,\u201d the 42-year-old says. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilder has always been prone to suspect pronouncements. In 2018 he said \u201cI want a body on my record\u201d and when this fight was announced he told Chisora: \u201cI want you to kill me.\u201d Chisora snorts: \u201cIt\u2019s boxing bullshit. Nobody wants to kill anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

How will this fight end on Saturday night? \u201cI\u2019m going to knock him out.\u201d What does his wife, Emily, think of him facing Wilder? \u201cShe don\u2019t like it, but it is what it is,\u201d Chisora says.<\/p>\n

Do they discuss the dangers? \u201cNo, we don\u2019t. Life is dangerous already, my friend. You wear a nice watch and you get stabbed for it. Boxing<\/a> is not dangerous. Boxing is fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Chisora (right) knocks down Otto Wallin in the 12th round of the IBF world heavyweight title eliminator in Manchester last year. Photograph: Richard Sellers\/PA<\/p>\n

Chisora argues that \u201ca true warrior knows when to stop\u201d, and says: \u201cI\u2019ve had so many friends who stopped boxing and they\u2019re not happy. They\u2019re depressed. I\u2019ve been doing this since I was 16. Is it time to stop just because somebody says [retire] for your health? It\u2019s quite hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisora once said that giving up boxing is as hard for a fighter as getting off heroin is for an addict. \u201cIt is,\u201d he says quietly. Why is boxing so addictive? \u201cWithout it you have no routine. But if you have a fight then for two months you come on a routine. It don\u2019t matter what goes through your mind. The routine is there. So the drug in boxing is the training. It keeps you going through the ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Chisora try to avoid head shots in the gym? \u201cYes. Most people use 16- or 18-ounce gloves [in sparring whereas sanctioned heavyweight fights feature 10 -ounce gloves where there is less protective cushioning]. But I use 22- to 24-ounce gloves for sparring. I don\u2019t try to put on my macho. We\u2019ve got big sofas in the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does he think about brain damage after all the heavy blows he has taken to the head during his 19-year professional career? \u201cNo. What will be, will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

But does Chisora accept that boxing can cause brain damage? \u201cIt does,\u201d he concedes, before shrugging. \u201cI\u2019ll be fine. Do I look and sound bad to you? I am fine.\u201d<\/p>\n

I explain to Chisora that Barry McGuigan, the former world champion featherweight boxer who is now 65, once told me that he made sure to test his mental faculties every day in retirement \u2013 whether that meant spending time on a crossword puzzle or some other brain teaser which tested his cognitive function. Does Chisora do anything similar?<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. If I leave my house and come back home then I\u2019m fine,\u201d Chisora says with a laugh. Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Farage slips into our room. \u201cDerek,\u201d he says softly, holding out his hand and beaming.<\/p>\n

\u201cHello mate,\u201d Chisora says.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you busy?\u201d Farage asks me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, we are,\u201d I reply, \u201cbut that\u2019s OK.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are you?\u201d Farage asks Chisora.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan\u2019t complain,\u201d the fighter replies. \u201cIt\u2019s going well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nigel Farage and Derek Chisora during the 2024 general election campaign. Photograph: Andy Rain\/EPA<\/p>\n

Farage chuckles and says: \u201cHe never stops, this bloke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHow was America?\u201d Chisora asks, in reference to Farage\u2019s recent visit to Florida.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t get John Crace\u2019s sketch in the Guardian<\/a> out of my head \u2013 in which he lampooned the Reform leader\u2019s apparent failure to spend any time with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago after Farage had boasted of the visit before flying to the US. Farage\u2019s answer is blustery: \u201cAmerica was good. It was short, only there 30 hours, but it was all right and I\u2019ve been doing rallies and God knows what round the country. So it\u2019s all good, it\u2019s all good, it\u2019s all good. It\u2019s all good.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the time he has uttered that last phrase a fourth time it\u2019s obvious that Farage has clocked the fact my phone is recording our conversation. I can imagine his reaction if he hears that Chisora is being interviewed by the Guardian, following this newspaper\u2019s claims of his alleged historical antisemitism<\/a>, which Farage denies.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, you crack on,\u201d Farage says before, looking at me, he says of Chisora: \u201cI shall be there at his next fight, his last professional fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chisora looks at his friend: \u201cI might hire a tank and then you roll up in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSomeone suggested this,\u201d Farage replies with a cheesy grin.<\/p>\n

I say that, before we know it, Farage will be appointing Chisora, whose boxing nickname is War, to his shadow cabinet. The politician and the boxer roar with laughter. Farage quips: \u201cThere\u2019re lots of skills left, but \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot those skills,\u201d Chisora says.<\/p>\n

\u201cHorses for courses,\u201d Farage says. \u201cListen, lovely seeing you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pair shake hands again and Chisora says: \u201cSee you, mate.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we are alone I ask Chisora how he first met Farage. \u201cYears ago, through a mutual friend. We do so much together.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tell Chisora that I\u2019m confused by their friendship. He is a black Zimbabwean, who has lived in Britain for decades, and Reform are smeared by allegations of racism. \u201cWhen you say racist, in what sense?\u201d Chisora asks.<\/p>\n

I mention just one example \u2013 at the Gorton and Denton byelection last month when the Reform candidate Matt Goodwin\u2019s interim campaign manager in Tameside, Adam Mitula, was found to have posted social media messages which used the N-word<\/a> and accused Black fathers of being \u201cthe best in leaving muims [sic] with no support\u201d. He also posted about \u201cMuslim no go ghettos in the UK\u201d.<\/p>\n

Derek Chisora and his nephew Jermaine Dhliwayo. Photograph: Linda Nylind\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Chisora knows I come from South Africa and he shifts the focus. \u201cYou\u2019ve got the same thing in South Africa right now. They don\u2019t want more Africans in the South. They don\u2019t want Nigerians. Listen, you\u2019re always going to find people trying to fight for what\u2019s theirs. I don\u2019t call it racism. I call it politics. If people support Trump they\u2019re told: \u2018Oh, you\u2019re a racist.\u2019 Nigel\u2019s come up with his party and now it\u2019s: \u2018He was a racist.\u2019 Everybody who\u2019s not with the left? You\u2019re racist.\u201d<\/p>\n

What about Reform\u2019s policies on immigration? Will Chisora, and other black Africans, ever truly be accepted in Britain by Reform voters? \u201cI\u2019m Zimbabwean. My [three] kids are British.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is he still a fan of Trump? \u201cI was a fan of Trump, but not this latest stuff [in Iran]. He stopped seven wars and started another one.\u201d<\/p>\n

What does he feel about the current state of the world? \u201cThe ones at the top are making money and the ones at the bottom are not. We\u2019ve got war in Europe, in the Middle East, in Africa. Nobody wins. Not us. People die, people are burying their kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

I point out that populists such as Farage and Trump always talk about helping \u201cordinary people\u201d but they are obscenely wealthy establishment figures. \u201cWho are the good politicians?\u201d Chisora asks. \u201cI\u2019m friends with Nigel. His politics are his politics, it\u2019s nothing to do with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year there was talk that Chisora might run as a Reform candidate for London mayor. \u201cNo, no,\u201d he says. \u201cIt was a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

He still wore a Reform hat<\/a> at his press conference before he fought Wallin last year in Manchester. \u201cDo you see me wearing Reform colours right now?\u201d<\/p>\n

We finally change the subject and Chisora says: \u201cBoxing is a dirty business, like politics, bro.\u201d But there is speculation that, should he beat Wilder, he might have one more fight. \u201cYou\u2019re guessing too much. This is it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tyson Fury embraces Derek Chisora after their bout at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in 2022. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge\/Action Images\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Headlining the O2 and beating a famous former world champion in Wilder would be, Chisora believes, \u201ca sweet way to go out \u2013 bye, bye, Miss American Pie\u201d.<\/p>\n

That was a song Tyson Fury often sang after a fight. Might he do the same? \u201cI can\u2019t sing. I can\u2019t dance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet, as he has done for years, Chisora can order burgers for himself, his opponent, and their entourages after the bout. \u201cIt started after the second Dillian Whyte fight<\/a> [in 2018],\u201d Chisora says. \u201cEvery time I finish fighting I want a burger. So after that fight [which he lost on an 11th round stoppage] we got 50 burgers and, when I came back to the dressing room, they\u2019re all gone. None for me and I wanted it bad. At the next fight I ordered a hundred burgers, and we shared them. It became a very good, positive thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will he do the same after the Wilder fight? \u201cOh yes, we will be sharing Five Guys. It\u2019s amazing. Food unites everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the fight is finished, the burgers have been eaten and his career as a fighter is finally over, will he want to remain in the dirty old business of boxing? \u201c100%,\u201d Chisora says. \u201cI love it.\u201d<\/p>\n