Derek Chisora: British boxer says he’s been given ‘green light’ by wife for Deontay Wilder rematch later in 2026

Derek Chisora has revealed his wife has given him the “green light” to have a rematch with Deontay Wilder.

Wilder beat Chisora by split decision in an enthralling fight last month and had previously said he would retire after that bout, which was the 50th of his professional career.

However, the 42-year-old is in talks over a second fight with Wilder for later this year.

“I’m working on the rematch. The wife has given me the green light, so I will be doing the rematch,” he told Sky Sports News.

“I haven’t confirmed it yet. I have a couple meetings tomorrow [on Wednesday} and we will see how that goes.

“He [Wilder] is keen because he’s upset with the result as well. Yes he might have won but he’s upset, so we are going to run it back.”

Asked if he would have another fight after a potential rematch, Chisora added: “That’s it. [At the] end of this year I will retire.”

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Denzel Bentley told Toe2Toe he could not believe it when he saw Deontay Wilder tell Derek Chisora

Chisora: Wardley let himself down

Heavyweight boxing is in the middle of a busy period, with the latest fight seeing Daniel Dubois beat Fabio Wardley in a thrilling 11-round battle.

Dubois recovered from two early knockdowns to become a two-time world champion, but it was Wardley’s bravery which caused plenty of debate afterwards.

Chisora said: “Wardley let himself down but Daniel came in with the way of like ‘I’m here to destroy’. He walked into the ring sweating, ready to rock and roll.

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Daniel Dubois stopped Fabio Wardley in the eleventh round of an incredible heavyweight battle and became a two-time world champion. Fight highlights courtesy of DAZN

“I believe Fabio didn’t respect Daniel. Fabio hit him with everything he had but Daniel kept getting up and fighting.

“I would like to see the rematch again. It was a good fight. We enjoyed it, and congratulations to Daniel Dubois for having an amazing victory.”

Question marks have been raised over whether the fight should have been stopped earlier due to the punishment Wardley took from Dubois.

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Andy Scott explains why Fabio Wardley’s team are ‘disappointed’ with the officiating after ‘illegal blows’ in the loss to Daniel Dubois

But, Chisora pointed to the controversial first fight between Carl Froch and George Groves in 2013 when many people felt the referee stopped the fight too early.

“In boxing you don’t know. in boxing. If you stop it earlier people say ‘why did you stop it early?'” he said.

“We saw it with George Groves and Carl Froch [in the first fight] and George went mad, everyone went crazy.”