DEREK CHISORA will soon leave this scumbag sport of boxing behind – even though he loves us.
At 41, he has announced his 49th professional bout against Otto Wallin on Saturday in Manchester will be his penultimate battle.
The 50th that follows – no doubt against a seriously dangerous rival – will be the swansong for the warrior who ducked nobody.
In a brutal 18-year career, Chisora has been robbed by foreign judges and beaten by drug cheats, on numerous occasions.
But he somehow refuses to be bitter, as he has built brilliant lives for daughters Angelina and Harare and looked after adored mum Violet.
When he calls us – the reporters, the fighters, the promoters and the managers – scumbags, it’s not said out of spite.
It’s out of a bizarre love for the hurt business that only usually attracts the destitute or damaged and can make influential millionaires out of hopeless young offenders.
“It’s a scumbag sport,” he told us with the trademark sort of grin he uses when he’s going to ruffle feathers. “But we love it.
“It’s crazy, it’s full of scumbags, but we love the scumbags in it.
“Whoever is in boxing is a scumbag and we love the scumbags. There’s no two ways about it.
“You don’t come into boxing because you’re a good man.
“If you’re a good man, you go work for a preacher or church or in a mosque. You’re a good man because you want to help.
“But if you are working in boxing, you’re a scumbag. It is what it is. It’s God’s honest truth.
“Let’s all be honest about it, boxing is the most f***ing wealthy sport, but it’s a poor man’s sport.
“If your son or your daughter wants to play tennis, or be a jockey, it will cost you money, you’ve got to train and buy a horse. Those are rich men’s sports.
“But if you want to become a boxer, it’s cheap, it’s a game of scumbags. Boxing is a scumbag sport.”
For almost a decade now, British fight fans have been worried about Del Boy and wishing he would hang up his gloves.
While his courage and durability are superpowers in the ring against fellow violent giants, they will be useless against the threat of boxing’s most dangerous opponent, dementia pugilistica.
Chisora addresses retirement calls
Heavyweight world titles are long beyond his grasp, but his cult-hero status is secured, his fortune is safe and his daughters’ futures are bright.
So when everybody – from the depths of the industry in the away corner at York Hall, to the casual row-Z seats at an Anthony Joshua show – wishes the veteran brawler would call time on his career, we do so out of genuine concern and gratitude.
Typically, he is fighting back at our empathy.
“Everybody always says, ‘Retire, retire, retire’,” he said. “But let’s be honest; nobody cares. It’s bulls***.
“When people tell me to retire, because they care, It’s bulls***.
“I care about me, my kids care about me. The only people who care for me are my mother and my kids.
‘I will retire when I want to retire’
“Nobody cares, they’re only saying because it makes them feel good.
“I will retire when I want to retire. Nobody tells me: ‘You should retire. You should do this’. No, no, no, no, no, no.
“I know when it’s time for me to hang them up. And, when I hang them up, they will stay up.”
SunSport speaks on behalf of British boxing when we end the interview by promising Chisora that we honestly do care.
“You f***ing liar!” he says.
“Pay for my taxi home then.”
Steady, Del, we love you but that’s not fare.
