Dereck Chisora covered his face and torso with white paint before engaging in a tense stare down with Oleksandr Usyk ahead of their heavyweight fight at Wembley’s SSE Arena on Saturday night.
The build-up to this bout has been free of the controversial moments that have occasionally overshadowed the bouts of Chisora, who has been fined on a couple of occasions in the past by the British Boxing Board of Control.
He added a touch of theatricality to Friday’s weigh-in ahead of the Halloween bout, with his top half covered almost exclusively in white paint except for an exaggerated smile of black and circles around his eyes.
FACE OFF! 👻 #UsykChisora pic.twitter.com/F6Ct8UIr5h
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) October 30, 2020
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On his upper chest was the word “WAR” – a nod to the nickname he has taken on recently in a concerted effort to get back into contention to fight for a world title, eight years after losing to Vitali Klitschko for the WBC crown.
When Chisora and Usyk went head-to-head, the Briton seemed to be goading his Ukrainian rival, who just stared back intently, before the pair were separated by security.
Chisora says he has had the best training camp of his career ahead of a fight that was postponed from its original May date due to the coronavirus pandemic and he scaled 255.5 pounds.
It is the lightest he has been since his rematch against Dillian Whyte in December 2018 but Chisora will still hold a three-stone advantage over Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who has won all 17 of his fights.
Usyk, who weighed 217lbs, is fighting for just the second time in his career at heavyweight and while there is no doubting his incredible boxing pedigree, it is unknown whether he has the power for the division.
Caption this 🥴 #UsykChisora pic.twitter.com/Oorho6Mucd
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) October 30, 2020
Chisora has lost nine times in his 41-fight professional career but he has knocked out the accomplished Carlos Takam and Artur Szpilka in the last couple of years, so Usyk’s ability to take a punch will also be tested.
On the undercard, Wales’ Lee Selby takes on George Kambosos Jr of Australia in a final eliminator for the IBF lightweight title, while there is an all-British world title clash between Savannah Marshall and Hannah Rankin.
The pair were originally scheduled to fight for the vacant WBO middleweight title two weeks ago but it was put back to Saturday after Marshall’s trainer Peter Fury tested positive for coronavirus.
