Derek Chisora will return to the ring this December for his 50th professional fight.
Chisora has enjoyed a resurgence over the past couple of years, claiming victories over Otto Wallin, Joe Joyce and Gerald Washington in his last three outings since unsuccessfully challenging Tyson Fury for the WBC heavyweight title in December 2022.
He originally announced that his win over Wallin in Manchester back in February was set to be his final fight in the UK, but he will now return to the city again to compete on a card that also features Moses Itauma on December 13.
While no opponent has been officially announced yet, one dangerous heavyweight has claimed that he has signed a contract for the bout and is waiting for Chisora to sign on his end.
The man in question is Zhilei Zhang, whose advisor Terry Lane told Boxing Scene about the delay for the fight to be confirmed.
“We’ve been very quiet about it because our team and Zhang himself, we’re just not ones to rush to social media, but we were presented with the fight [over three weeks ago] and we accepted in a couple of days. So it’s been well over three weeks since the fight has been accepted on our end, in principle.
“Queensberry wants to make the fight. DAZN [the broadcaster] really like the fight. It was a twin bill with Moses Itauma as kind of a co-main event situation on a pay-per-view. So we said yes, basically pretty quickly, and it just got to a point where we kind of felt like we needed to speak up in recent days. That’s why you’re kind of seeing this stuff come out now.”
Chisora has also been linked to fights against the likes of Deontay Wilder, Dillian Whyte and Jarrell Miller, and Lane went on further to explain why he thinks the clash against Zhang is more viable.
“I know that two of those opponents are not going to work out. I mean, look, I’ve been wrong before, so I can’t say anything in boxing. You can’t say anything with any certainty, but I just don’t think that two of those fights are in the running.
“One of them might be, but what I’m hearing on my end is that the fight that the powers that be want to make is Zhang versus Chisora. So it’s kind of up to Chisora to say yes or no to it. But if he says no, I don’t know what direction they would go in, but we would move on and probably focus back on [fighting in] China again [in January].”
Zhang was last in action in February when suffering a stoppage loss to Agit Kabayel, but prior to that had claimed a knockout win over former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder.
