By Tris Dixon

DON CHARLES, Dereck Chisora’s trainer, was thrilled with his fighter’s performance against Carlos Takam but had some strong words for those who have written Chisora off over the years.

Despite Chisora not being known for his one-punch power, Charles was not shocked by the quick and violent ending that saw Takam felled by a brace of stunning right hands.

“I’m not surprised because this is what we are in it for,” said Charles. “When the fight was made I knew there was only ever going to be one way they were going to fight. Dereck wore a hat that said ‘WAR’ on it and that’s what it was. I don’t remember there being a heavyweight fight like that in the last 20 years. From round one…”

Chisora backed up from the start, inviting Takam to the ropes where the phonebooth exchanges were carried out.

“You know what? We had no choices,” Charles explained of why ‘Del Boy’ backed up. “Sometimes you can’t fight fire with fire or the whole place will burn down.

“So basically when Takam came out like that – and we didn’t think he would come out like that, like a man possessed – he gambled. He gambled and he was power-punching from the first second of the first round and we knew he’d blow a gasket. And that’s what was happening. We could see his petrol running low, running lower and when you’re hitting arms, he was hitting arms and every punch he threw was a power punch. You can’t sustain that. He actually did very well to carry on in the fashion that he did.” 

Charles as Chisora started the ride together but there was a gap of a year-and-a-half. Chisora claims to be reborn and seems to be in a good place.

“We split for 18 months,” Charles said. “He had three fights against journeymen and then he found his home. My home is his home. We had to retrace our roots. “You’re talking about a guy who when he fought Vitali Klitschko, Klitschko was knocking out everybody. Nobody gave us a chance. They said ‘Two rounds, you will get knocked out by Klitschko.’ We knew different. People don’t really give the kid the respect he deserves. The boxing world, in my opinion and from my observations, didn’t give him his respect and we became the ‘nearly’ guys. We gave great fights and we fell short. I’m sick and he’s sick of hearing that, and I said to him, ‘Listen, today you’re going to fight great and you’re going to win. And he delivered in emphatic fashion’.”

So what next for the brash Londoner, who is heading to Ibiza to celebrate?

“I haven’t got a clue I’m not a promoter,” Charles said. “It don’t matter what happens next because his stock has gone up and any promoter in the world who has seen that… That’s what you pay for. He’s a character, Dereck Chisora.”

Around 20,000 fans in the O2 certainly believed so. They got behind him and sang his name. He used to be the villain. The bad boy of British boxing. But he’s turned it around.

“I kept saying to him, ‘Listen to that. Can you hear that? You’re the people’s champion, Dereck’,” Charles said proudly. “He’s the people’s champion. He’s a lovable rogue, isn’t he? We know he’s naughty, he’s got that mischievous character but people have embraced him.”