I fought Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk and Dillian Whyte but nobody hit me harder than journeyman boxer with only 3 KOs

07/25/2024 03:23 AM

Derek Chisora has shared the ring with several big punchers.

During the course of an iconic career stretching back to 2007, ‘Del Boy’ has boxed the likes of Tyson Fury, Dillian Whyte, David Price and Oleksandr Usyk.

But none of them hit as hard as journeyman boxer Paul Butlin.

The 41-fight veteran retired with a record of 16-24-1 with only three wins coming by way of knockout.

Yet Chisora insists Butlin had some serious power in his hands.

“You remember this guy, Paul Butlin. He hit me so hard I thought the referee needed to check his gloves,” he told talkSPORT.com.

“I will never forget when he went boom, boom. And I’m like ‘God man, somebody needs to check this guy’s gloves’.

“I went back to the corner and Don [Charles] (Chisora’s former trainer) told me you need to move, you can’t stand there.

“The guy was strong and he hit me with a body shot and I was like ‘Nah, I need to box this guy’.”

Chisora boxed Butlin twice in the paid ranks, winning both bouts via unanimous decision.

Midway through their second fight, Chisora decided to imitate the now infamous scenes from Mike Tyson‘s rematch with Evander Holyfield by biting Butlin’s ear.

He wasn’t disqualified from the contest but did recieve a four month suspension and a £2,500 fine from the Southern Area Council for his actions.

Later in his career, Butlin was knocked out by Anthony Joshua before eventually hanging up his gloves in 2016 following a stoppage defeat to Kash Ali.

He now works as a bailiff and went viral earlier this year for a heated altercation while doing his job.

A video uploaded to YouTube, which has now amassed 1.4million views, shows a livid camerman hurling abuse at Butlin for delivering a letter to him about an outstanding fine which he refused to pay.

Clearly unaware of who he was talking to, the man threatened to ‘punch the f***’ out of Butlin.

But to the ex-boxer’s credit he remained unfazed and replied: “I’m not here to fight you, I’m not a fighter mate.”

While Butlin is out collecting debts, Chisora is still boxing.

He returns to the ring on Saturday night against Joe Joyce in what will be his tenth apperance at London’s O2 Arena.

Chisora insists it will be his last fight at the iconic 20,000-seater.

However, it won’t be his final outing as a pro.

His domestic dust-up with Joyce marks his 48th fight and Chisora is fully intent on making it to 50 bouts before he calls time on his career.