Dave Allen is anticipating an early finish when former world champion Deontay Wilder collides with heavyweight veteran Derek Chisora on April 4.
It was announced last week that the pair will headline a Misfits Pro and Queensberry card in London, with both of them entering their 50th professional outing.
Not so long ago, it appeared as though Wilder was set to face bona fide heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk, but ‘The Bronze Bomber’ must now prepare himself for a vastly different matchup altogether.
The 40-year-old comes off a relatively uninspiring seventh round finish over Tyrrell Herndon in June, which followed his back-to-back defeats against Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang.
Against Parker, the American failed to unleash his trademark power, and that was again outlined during Zhang’s fifth-round stoppage victory.
One man who certainly seems to think Wilder’s power may be gone is British heavyweight Allen, who, having previously sparred with Chisora, believes that Wilder is likely to find himself on the receiving end of an early stoppage.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Allen put forward the opinion that, despite being two years older, Chisora is the more serviceable customer at this stage of their careers.
“Wilder, I just don’t think he has anything left. You would think, for a guy that can punch, Chisora’s a good match, because Chisora will walk on to you and he’s there to be hit.
“But Wilder, I just don’t think he can pull the trigger no more. Of course he can still punch… But [Chisora’s] not that easy to hit because you have to worry about him hitting you back.
“I think seven or eight years ago, Wilder would’ve had the speed and the want to really hit Derek, and I think he would’ve stopped him.
“But even at 42 [years old], I think [Chisora] has got a lot more left than Wilder. I think he’ll get to him early.”
Chisora comes off three straight points victories over Gerald Washington, Joe Joyce and Otto Wallin, all of them following his 10th-round stoppage defeat to Tyson Fury in 2022.