Popular London heavyweight boxer Dereck Chisora called for a fight with either Oleksandr Usyk or a rescheduled fight with former heavyweight world champion Joseph Parker, after halting David Price in a dominant display at the O2 Arena.
Chisora and Price thrilled the crowd in a ding-dong, all-British heavyweight battle over four rounds, pulsating as long as it lasted.
Chisora bustled into Price with winging hooks at every opportunity from the off, Price looking to counter with his heavy shots, but it was the London fighter always in the ascendancy.
At the end of the third round, Price was hurt and under pressure in his own corner, but managed to buckle his foe with the last punch of the round. A cuffing right hand in the fourth round to Price’s temple, however, as Chisora carried on relentlessly, put his 6ft 8ins tall foe sideways and down in the neutral corner. Although Price regained his feet, as referee Howard Foster studied the Liverpudlian’s physical state, the towel came in from the felled boxer’s corner, at two minutes four seconds of the fourth round.
Earlier, on a raucous night at the O2 Arena, Lee Selby defeated Ricky Burns in a battle of former world champions. In an entertaining, at times roughhouse brawl, the Welshman held the upper hand throughout the 12 rounds, winning by majority verdict 116-112, 116-113, 115-115 in a hard-fought encounter.
Selby, who had moved up two weight divisions, insisted his ambition is to claim a world title in the weight division, although his performance was ridiculed by Devin Haney, the American, who is promoted by Matchroom Boxing head and promoter Eddie Hearn.
‘The Sauce’ Lawrence Okolie claimed the European cruiserweight title with a messy performance riddled with hitting and holding against formerly undefeated champion Yves Ngabu, of Belgium.
Okolie, five inches taller, dominated the fight rocking his foe on two occasions before dropping Ngabu with a huge punch in the seventh round, sending him careering across the ring, his legs wobbling under him, the referee waving off the bout and saving him from further punishment.
Okolie, now undefeated in 14 contests, is still raw in many ways, but the physically huge cruiserweight took the opportunity post-fight to remind his promoter Hearn that he is ready for a world title challenge having added the European belt to his British and Commonwealth baubles.