What next for Derek Chisora?

Britain’s Derek Chisora took another huge step back towards genuine heavyweight credibility with a sixth-round stoppage of unbeaten American Malik Scott last week.

And while the win was not without controversy – Scott claimed confusion over the referee’s count resulted in his failure to rise from the canvas – Del Boy appears to be approaching his bouts with a level of focus and discipline that he has rarely shown in the past.

The Zimbabwe-born Londoner has enjoyed some terrific highs in his career thus far – lasting the distance with Vitali Klitshcko ranking high on the list – but after losing to Tyson Fury and being outclassed by David Haye, which itself followed a tawdry press conference brawl, his credibility has been damaged in recent years.

However, this new approach saw Chisora enter the ring against Scott in arguably the shape of his career and while doubts will always remain over the KO, Del Boy had his man nursing a bruised eye by the end of the first and clearly has a thirst and desire that had previously not been evidenced.

British boxers believing the heavyweight title is their destiny is nothing new – Audley Harrison has yet to retire – but Chisora now appears to have genuine belief in his chances and wasted no time in calling out for a Klitschko rematch.

Harrison himself has jostled for a crack at Chisora but the Olympic gold medalist-turned professional flop should not even be on Del Boy’s radar now.

Klitschko is unlikely to give Chisora another shot just yet, given that he has lost four of his last seven outings, so his camp may have to look closer to home for his next opponent.

With Audley an irrelevance as far as Chisora is concerned the Londoner could opt for a showdown with David Price who was hotly-tipped before a double loss to Tony Thompson.

With both fighters looking to rebuild their careers and fight their way back into title contention the Liverpudlian looks to be the most likely option.

However, with ticket sales and box office receipts increasingly playing part in the matching of fighters the numbers would more than make sense for Chisora to face the loser of the upcoming David Haye v Tyson Fury bout.

Haye is the overwhelming 2/7 favourite and would not be interested in a Chisora rematch should he win as expected, so a rematch with Fury could well be on the cards.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.