Category: Boxing

Derek Chisora was born in Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, on December 29, 1983 so, at the time of writing, he is 39 years old and just a month or so shy of his thirty-ninth birthday. A resident of Finchley, North London since the late nineties, it would be fair to say that, as a legitimate heavyweight contender, his star is on the wane. Chisora has challenged for the World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title once,  losing by unanimous decision to Vitali Klitschko at the Olympiahalle, Munich in December, 2012, and again to Tyson Fury in December 2022.

Nevertheless, Chisora is still well ranked in the world by the official record keeper, BoxRec, and has a record of 33-12-0, including 23 knockouts. Most recently, he beat Gerald Washington, at the O2 Arena, Greenwich on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua fight vs Robert Helenius fight, a fight AJ won by knockout.

Chisora was in the news in 2022 as the chosen opponent of undefeated WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. Fury, who wass defending a 32-0-1 record, including 23 knockouts, initially mooted retirement after beating Dillian Whyte, courtesy of a sixth-round technical knockout, at Wembley Stadium in April, 2022. Subsequent fights against Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua failed to materialise, so Fury set his sights on a trilogy fight with Chisora.

The pair first met at Wembley Arena in July, 2011, with Fury winning by unanimous decision to take the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. They met again, at the ExCel Arena, Dockland in November, 2014, with Chisora retired by his corner at the end of the tenth round. Ahead of their third meeting,  which was scheduled for December 3, 2022 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Fury insisted, ‘I see Chisora every bit as dangerous as Usyk.’ The bookmakers disagreed, making Chisora a 12/1 underdog, in places. After the fight it was easy to see why.

For those uninitiated, the bout billed as the ‘Thrilla in Manila’ was a trilogy fight between Muhammad Ali and ‘Smokin” Joe Frazier staged in Metropolitan Manila, the National Capital Region of the Phillipines, on October 1, 1975. It is almost universally regarded as one of the greatest, and most unrelenting, fights in boxing history. Incidentally, the catchphrase was derived from a line of trash talk delivered in the build-up to the fight; he said, ‘It’s gonna be a chilla, and a killa, and a thrilla, when I fight the Gorilla in Manila.’

Ali and Frazier had boxed against each other twice before. At the time of their first fight, the so-called ‘Fight of the Century’ at Madison Square Garden, New York on March 8, 1971, Frazier was undisputed heavyweight champion of the world; he won by unanimous decision, having knocked Ali down at the start of the final round. However, Frazier lost his titles to George Foreman in the so-called ‘Sunshine Showdown’ in Kingston, Jamaica on January 22, 1973, so the rematch between Ali and Frazier, ‘Super Fight II, also at Madison Square Garden, on January 28, 1974 was a non-title fight; Ali won by unanimous decision, despite constantly holding Frazier behind the neck to render him ineffective.

Ali subsequently knocked out Foreman in the iconic ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Kinshasa, Zaire on October 30, 1974 so, after three successful defences, headed to the Phillipines as undisputed world heavyweight champion. In any event, Ali won, by technical knockout when Frazier was retired, against his wishes, by his trainer, Eddie Futch, at the end of the fourteenth round. It was a close call, though; Ali said later, ‘Frazier quit just before I did. I didn’t think I could fight any more.’

Just like any other sport, boxing is a game of continuity. The fights that we have seen a few months ago will see a follow up in the upcoming months, and the fights of tomorrow will see a rematch that spread throughout the year. This is why we love, dream and live boxing. The sport indeed creates a storyline, a narrative that many boxing fans can relate to. The boxer that won the belts in September, could be the same one to lose all the belts in the months to come, and this is why the love for boxing is molded with adrenalin, betting and an insane need to watch boxing matches.

Now that we have the 2021 boxing year all wrapped up, we can confidently say that 2022 is yet to transition into the year of boxing, the year of comeback fighters, the year of fighters turning professional and the year that cruiserweights make it to the heavyweight division. All the top bookies have come up with some of the biggest fights you do not want to lose in 2022. It is worth checking their reviews, such as the complete 1xBet review, before deciding on which bout you should bet on. So, let’s break them all down for you in order to get a better view.

Heavyweight Division

Anthony Joshua vs Oleksander Usyk

The Heavyweight division has been busy in 2021, with buckets of matches and offenses being thrown in the mix. September 2021 saw heavyweight and Olympic champion Anthony Joshua lose all his belts after a devastating loss against Oleksander Usyk. With Usyk cruising in from the middleweight division and also using the Southpaw stance, Joshua was no match, and lost all his IBF, WBO and WBA belts to the bubbly Ukrainian. The good news for Joshua is that most boxing fights contracts always hold a rematch clause, hence Joshua exercised his right to a rematch just a few hours following the devastating loss. Since the first fight happened in September, we envisage that the fight will take place sometime between March – April 2021, keeping in mind that boxing ranking demands a minimum of a fight every 6 months. If you ask any boxing fan which is the fight they will be looking forward to in 2022, this will definitely rank high, as this is an instrumental fight for Joshua. Will he be able to get his belts back and claim ‘ It was so nice, I had to do it three times?’ This is the first statement that AJ gave when he got his belts back from Andy Ruiz. Will AJ be able to pull another offense? Will the king reign supreme again?

Tyson Fury vs Dillian Whyte

Tyson Fury may be “the Gypsy King”, but he is just a beast in the boxing ring. Although we would have loved to watch and bite our nails to a Fury, Joshua bout, destiny had other plans for us boxing fans. Whilst Joshua lost all his belts, Fury is now set to fight the winner from the Joshua vs Usyk fight, in a match that will see the winner be declared boxing champion of the world unifying the IBF, WBC, WBO and the WBA belts. In the meantime, Tyson Fury, the reigning champion that won the trilogy fights against Deontay Wilder would need a new challenger. The said challenger in this case would be Dillian Whyte, the former WBC champion dubbed ‘The Body Snatcher’. We cannot say that we are not looking forward to this fight, but in all honesty, there are bigger matches tio think about, some being the above, and the unification bout.

Unification Fight

With so many at stake in the heavyweight division, the one fight betting sites are raving about the most has to be the unification fight. The winner from Usyk vs. Joshua will square off with the winner from Fury vs Whyte, and here we are already placing our bets. If we had to evaluate the current physical condition of the involved fighters, we’d say that we would most probably see a Usyk vs Fury match, with all the professional heavyweight belts on the line. One fighter will walk away with all the belts, and the other will walk away empty handed. We’d envisage that the fight will take place sometime during September / October 2022, pandemic permitting of course.

In the meantime, if Fury and Usyk want to get rid of Joshua, the latter demanded a cool 40 Million to step aside and let the boxing match happen.

Cruiserweight Division

Jake Paul vs Canelo Alvarez

A few weeks ago we saw an undefeated Jake Paul squash his beef with Tyron Woodley, with the latter suffering a brutal KO by the hand of Paul. A few hours following the win, cheeky Jake Paul blasted the following tweet to his 4.1 Million followers: ‘I hope you are training Canelo’. This is when the boxing world smirked at the outright brazen comment by the social media sensation. As we bring you this review, Canelo Alvarez is yet to respond to Paul’s threat. In the meantime we just hope that this fight will indeed happen. We’d give anything to see the media mogul get squashed once and for all.

Lightweight Division

Josh Taylor vs Jack Catteral

Undisputed lightweight champion Josh Taylor is set to meet and square off with rival and ‘enemy’ Jack Vatteral on the 26th of February 2022. With all the belts on the line (WBC, WBO,IBF and WBA), Taylor has been very vocal about his mandatory challenger. Defending his belts at all costs, Taylor promises to be ruthless, a powerhouse, and with all his belts remaining in his native Scotland. As much as we love boxing, the biggest fights to watch are the ones with titles on the line, and we just cannot wait for February 2022 to roll in. In the meantime, the current bets stand as follows: Josh Taylor 1/9, Jack Catterall 5/1 and a draw at 22/1.

2021 gifted us with many boxing matches, some we loved, some we loathed. We saw KOs, nasty cuts, weigh in exchange of words, and we always saw the 2nd downfall of Anthony Joshua. You win some, you lose some, this is the bottom line when it comes to boxing (unless you are Mike Tyson). Yet, we can all agree that the best is yet to come, and finally we will get one question answered: who will be the undisputed boxing heavyweight champion of the world? Will it be Fury? Will it be Usyk? Or will Joshua claim the title of comeback king yet again. Bring on 2022 ladies and get, let’;s get the boxing gloves ready, and let the sparring begin.

When fight night and the boxing gloves are on, the world goes into a boxing betting frenzy, as we place our bets on the favourite boxer to win. In the meantime, the 2 fighters in the ring square off for boxing belts and snag millions of dollars in the process. Whilst many people feel that boxers just leave everything in the ring, little do they know that there are some famous boxers who like to spend a dime gambling at the best new online casinos. Afterall, having millions in your bank account does make your bankroll budget easy to fund. Let’s have a look at some professional boxers that love a good old gamble, shall we?

Mike Tyson

Mike Tyson was dubbed Iron Mike and also the Baddest Man on the Planet by the boxing community. His punch and reach remain imprinted in the legacy that he brought to the sport, and if he could make it to the ring today, he will most probably snag all the heavyweight belts from Usky and Fury. Apart from the love for boxing, Tyson enjoyed his gambling as much as he loved his KOs, and gambled his way through many sports and casino games. Apart from this Mike Tyson enjoyed boxing bets, splashing money at online casinos and throwing money at women. One of the best boxers of our time, might have made millions fighting opponents in the ring, but lost most of his money placing reckless bets.

Floyd Mayweather

Gambling and Floyd Mayweather seem to go hand in hand, as the famous boxing fighter’s gambling exploits are extensively documented. During an interview with the press, Mayweather confessed that he loved gambling so much, he wanted to place a boxing wager on himself. Documenting has gambling exploits online, Mayweather states that he enjoys placing wagers in basketball, baseball and even boxing, and his wagers normally hit the 300k mark. If you want to keep up with all the Floys Mayweather gambling escapades, you can follow his social media accounts, as the boxer loves flaunting his betting slips and winnings.

Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield might be remembered as the boxer whose ear fell at the hands of Mike Tsyon during their 1997 fight at the MGM in Vegas, however the retired athlete is much more than that. He remains the five-time heavyweight champion of the world, a powerhouse in the ring, and a betting afishinado when not boxing his opponents to a KO. Although the boxing champion made over 150 Million in earnings during this sporting career, gambling and 3 very messy divorces left him penniless. Holyfield loved to bet on his sport boxing, football and even basketball.

Manny Pacquiao

Whilst many people across the globe placed safe boxing wagers on Manny Pacqiao and won, the fighter himself did not have such good luck when betting on sports. Whilst Pacqiao took home a whopping 30 million per fight, making it to the top ranks of the boxing world, he did enjoy some side bets on the side. Prior to fights Pacquiao used to ask his promoter Bob Arum to get millions in advance to place bets, with the latter having to wire money to online casino sites to settle Pacquiao’s debt multiple times. Pacquiao lived life in the fast lane, women, gambling and everything Sin City has to offer. Fortunately enough, the boxer managed to turn his life around, and has more control over his past gambling addictions.

Whilst boxing is a contact sport that many wager on, boxers play the game both in and out of the ring. Whilst us punters enjoy the boxing wagers a couple of times a year when big fights are on, boxers head over to casino sites to place wagers on other sports. The common gambling denominator with all the above boxers is of course boxing. They know and familiar stomping grounds, and they know all the big names in boxing. At the end of the day boxers might be athletes but humans all crave adrenaline rushes, and we get those from placing wagers on sports and athletes. Boxers are no different. Just like us, they make their way to online casino operators, and placing bets is what keeps it spicy and fun.