2007…

The year better known for the outbreak of Bird Flu and Gordon Brown becoming Prime Minister.

It was also the year when a future British boxing legend made his debut in the professional ranks.

Derek Chisora. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, he moved to London in 1999 at the age of 16 and, since then, has very much lived the British dream.

A British, Commonwealth, and European champion, he has accolades to his name that many boxers could only dream of and has fought the best of the best—from Oleksandr Usyk to Vitali Klitschko and Tyson Fury to Joseph Parker.

He has been nothing but box office, and this weekend, he fights for the final time in the UK and for the penultimate time in his 18-year professional career.

Originally scheduled to fight Jarrell Miller in a proper clash of the big brawlers, he now instead takes on the tricky 6’6” southpaw Otto Wallin.

A decent amateur, the Swede’s only defeats as a professional have come at the hands of Tyson Fury—a man that Chisora has lost to on three occasions, coincidentally—and Anthony Joshua, two former unified world champions, so this is certainly a fighter with plenty of ability.

His style makes for an extremely intriguing contest against Chisora.

Ever since his defeat to Agit Kabayel back in 2017, Del has very much fought with the “f*ck it” attitude—where boxing goes out the window, and he just wants to have a full-on brawl and try to take his opponent’s head off with every shot.

In some cases, it’s worked, such as his emphatic knockouts of Artur Szpilka and Carlos Takam, but in other cases, it’s bitten him on the arse big time, such as his stoppage defeats to the likes of Dillian Whyte and Tyson Fury.

What Chisora is, though—win or lose—is guaranteed entertainment, and Wallin is going to have to do his best to be the party pooper on Saturday night.

There’s no denying that Wallin is the better boxer and the more tricky of the two, but Chisora has that power that can switch anyone’s lights off in an instant—which Wallin isn’t blessed with.

The Swede is going to have to box clever. Chisora is there to be hit, and he’ll need to frustrate him, get behind that long, awkward southpaw jab, and look to counter when the Brit falls in with his punches.

For Del, it’s simple: 36 minutes to break down his opponent to the body and head or 36 minutes to land a huge right hand that sends Wallin’s whiskers deep into the Ashton Canal.

The beauty of this fight is that it has the potential to be an absolute cracker, as is the case with most of Derek Chisora’s fights. But if Wallin chooses to box clever—which you couldn’t blame him for doing—it will be a frustrating watch for any Derek Chisora fans.

Despite a cracking 50/50 between Willy Hutchinson and Zach Parker falling through due to an injury to Hutchinson, the undercard has a couple of quality fight-of-the-night contenders.

Whenever there is a British title on the line, it’s bound to catch any boxing fan’s beady eye. But when there’s a Commonwealth title plus a ranking with the WBC on the line, it’s almost guaranteed to be a tear-up.

Oh, and when one of the fighters is Jack Rafferty—who literally doesn’t have a clue how to be in a dull fight—it promises only one thing… violence.

Here, he makes the first defence of his British & Commonwealth Super-Lightweight titles against the 17-1 Reece MacMillan.

After winning the title in emphatic fashion against Henry Turner in his last fight, Rafferty was quickly snapped up by Queensberry, and this fight will see two young and hungry fighters put it all on the line in a cracking local derby on home soil for both lads.

The original opponent was meant to be Kane Gardner, but just days after the fight was announced, MacMillan upset the odds and narrowly outpointed Gardner for the vacant Central Area title.

Rafferty is certainly the man with the power and experience advantage, but don’t write MacMillan off too easily in what is a delightful piece of matchmaking.

Another fight to watch out for is Rafferty’s gym mate Zak Miller challenging Masood Abdulah for his Commonwealth Featherweight title.

Eleven wins from eleven fights—reigning champ Abdulah has been faultless so far in the paid ranks and has picked up seven stoppages in the process, including against Qais Ashfaq and Marc Leach.

Miller is a fighter who’s gone under the radar massively, with the only defeat of his 16-fight career so far coming at the hands of the talented Nathaniel Collins in a narrow points decision that could really have gone either way.

Out of Steve Maylett’s gym in Ancoats, we know Miller has got the engine to fight 12 rounds at a ridiculous pace, and when you combine that with Abdulah’s confidence and impressive power, that should set us up nicely for a top-notch contest.

On the rest of the undercard, the popular Nathan Heaney will be looking to return to winning ways against the Frenchman Sofiane Khati, whilst the likes of Joe Cooper, Lewis Williams, and Walter Fury will all be aiming to maintain their unbeaten starts in the professional ranks.