“I know I broke two things. His hand and his rib because right now he can’t talk and stand right now,” 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 state of him,” it 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’s backing up his claim that he took Wilder into deep water where the “Bronze Bomber” couldn’t cope with the physicality.
It’s a clever distraction. If we are talking about Wilder’s broken ribs, we aren’t talking about Chisora’s 14th career loss or the fact that he might not have many rounds left in the tank.
“He’s got power for the first three rounds and then after he fades, but he’s always got that power,” Chisora said.
That is a backhanded compliment if I’ve ever heard one. On the surface, Chisora is acknowledging that Wilder is dangerous, but then he implies that Wilder is a three-round fighter who coasts for the rest of the night.
“The ropes were very loose. I went on the ropes, he fell into me, pushed me, said break, and it broke. I went through the ropes, they start counting. The second time they took a point, and it still counted me out. But I don’t understand why,” said Chisora about being knocked through the ropes by Wilder 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 count, and the points deduction all in one breath, it usually means they are struggling to accept that the other guy simply had their number.
Chisora’s claim that Wilder “fell on me, pushed me” is a way to nullify a knockdown. 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 glancing one, and a fighter goes through the ropes, referees are trained to call it a knockdown because the ropes are the only thing that kept the fighter from hitting the canvas.
Chisora (35-14, 23 KOs) also sounded uncertain about what comes next, admitting he doesn’t know if he will fight again after what he described as a long and demanding career.
“Do I still want to fight again?” said Chisora.
If he ends up fighting again, here is what that “final fight” build-up was actually about: By labeling it a retirement bout, Chisora turned a standard heavyweight clash into a “must-see” historical event.
It likely secured him a much bigger purse and a headlining slot on the inaugural MF Pro card. It’s a lot easier to sell tickets for “The Last War” than for Chisora’s 14th attempt to get back in the win column.
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