Perennial heavyweight contender Dereck ‘War’ Chisora 32-11 (23) has labelled the stoppage of Carlos Takam 39-6-1 (28) at the hands of Joe ‘Juggernaut’ Joyce 13-0 (12) as “pathetic” while admitting the referee was in the best position to determine whether the fight should continue.
French veteran Takam, 40, had great success in the early rounds against British boxer Joyce at The SSE Arena in London on Saturday night before getting caught with a shot and being stopped on his feet in the sixth round by referee Steve Gray while he was covering up.
“Pathetic, give the guy a count. Don’t just stop the fight. Joe was losing every round,” Chisora said to Behind The Gloves.
“But you know what? It’s a Frank Warren show; it’s a BT show. The ref was inside and seen what’s happening, but from the outside, I thought it was a stupid stoppage.
“But maybe the ref knows better. If you look at something in slow motion, it’s going to look so horrible.
“If I put it in slow motion, ‘Whoa, why did he do that?’ It’s slow motion. It looks very obvious in slow motion. Listen, Joe was losing every round.
“From what I saw, he lost six rounds. But I said to my buddy, ‘Yeah, Joe is going to lose the first eight rounds, but something is going to happen and he’s going to win the fight.’ He won the fight, and that’s it.”
Joyce is now the WBO mandatory contender to unified champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) who faces Ukrainian southpaw Oleksandr Usyk 18-0 (13) at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on September 25.
“Becoming a mandatory means nothing in this game, to be honest,” Chisora said.
“It’s all about what belts are worth more money. Are they worth more money in Joe’s hand or in Usyk and AJ?
“So far, they’re worth more in Usyk and AJ, not in Joe’s hands. AJ is going to knock him out, but he’s going to have to go through hell to knock him out.”
Chisora, 37, is gunning for a rematch against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker 29-2 (21) of New Zealand following their split decision in Manchester in May. Chisora had Parker on the deck in the opening round but faded in the back half of the fight to lose by scores of 115-113, 113-115 and 111-116.
“We’re going to a Joseph Parker rematch right now, and I’m back with [trainer] Dave Coldwell,” Chisora said.
“We’ll be up in Sheffield for my rematch. We don’t know yet. We’re trying to sort out the money situation.
“If DAZN is watching and Sky is watching, give me the money. Put up. DAZN came with the big slap bringing so much money to the game.
“Now they said they don’t have money. They have to pay, baby. DAZN, Eddie [Hearn], pay.”
