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Exclusive Q&A: Kalle Sauerland reckons it's Wilder early or Chisora late
All eyes will be on London's O2 Arena on Saturday when Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder lock horns in the main event of MF Pro's latest show.
But the heavyweight slugfest, which you can watch live on DAZN, is just part of a stacked card that promises to deliver action galore.
Ahead of the big night, DAZN News caught up with promoter Kalle Sauerland for a chat.
DAZN News: How's Derek feeling ahead of his 50th and final bout?
Kalle Sauerland: He's enjoying the experience but Derek's very different to any other fighter I've promoted. And that hasn't changed over the last 13 years.
Derek might have grown older — but his antics don't grow old. Having worked with a lot of characters over the decades, it's only a few that pop out like Derek.
"Your retirement gift will be two black eyes"
Watch: Chisora and Wilder make their fight promises to each other (1.14)
DN: What have you made of Deontay so far?
KS: I've never promoted Wilder but I've been around him and he's always got a nervous energy. What stuck out for me at the first presser was the lack of that. He was very calm, very chilled, with the exception of the Simon Jordan incident.
Maybe he was chilled when I saw him because he got it off his chest. I think that's going to be an interesting one to follow, because a lot of this, especially if it goes into the deeper rounds, will be a stamina question. Some of Deontay's losses were down to him fading.
DN: Carl Froch has claimed Deontay is a spent force. What do you make of that?
KS: Carl’s got a much better opinion than I do within the ropes. But a puncher is never a spent force. It's very dangerous to write off a puncher.
Deontay's one of the longest-serving WBC heavyweight world champions. He's gotten himself out of a lot of holes with that power — and that hasn't gone anywhere. It's concussive one-punch power. But I do hope for Derek that he's a spent force.
Other people said Derek was a spent force six years ago — including me. Derek's change was in his approach to life, boxing and training.
Deontay's worked more on the psychological side of the game. He seems very calm, so it looks like he's in a good place.
Carl can have his opinion. All the experts will have their opinions. That's what you like to see before a big heavyweight fight and nobody can really pick a winner.
You could argue Derek's the favourite and Wilder's the underdog. If you look at Chisora's record recently, it's better than Wilder's. But I also think they don't give a toss what Carl or whoever says.
DN: How do you see the fight going?
KS: Derek's going to do what Derek does. He's going to bring it on him, come with a high guard and press him early. He's going to put on relentless pressure.
‘War’ is such a great fighting name for Derek because that's what he does. He just marches in. But Wilder's going to set up for the big shots.
My way of analysing it, and I go back and forth on a winner, is it's either Deontay early or Chisora late.
DN: Before the main event, Viddal Riley challenges Mateusz Masternak for the European cruiserweight title. If he wins, how far do you think Viddal can go?
KS: I think he'll fight for a world title this year. Masternak, who I've also promoted, doesn't do anything spectacular. But he never does anything bad.
You're going to go into deep waters with him. For Viddal, this is a fight where he'll learn what world class is.
Masternak is a world-class cruiserweight. He's been around for a long time, beaten some of the best and mixed with some of the best. So for Viddal, this is a real measuring stick.
I'm a promoter, I'll talk to you all day long about how I'm going to make the world title for him next. But we're really going to see on Saturday how far Viddal can go. I believe he goes all the way.
DN: Is the sky the limit for MF Pro?
KS: We're not about signing 100 fighters. We're about putting up big events. To do that, you've got to put up some smaller, fun events as well.
We want to try and keep it to a stable that you know the names. People in the high street know the names. That's for us.
As MF Sports, the mother company, we've also got the circus of Misfits — as Derek calls it — and we've got one or two other sports still to be announced. Boxing is going to be a massive part of it.
Watch Chisora vs. Wilder only on DAZN
Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder square off this Saturday, April 4, exclusively on DAZN PPV. Buy as a one-off PPV or get this, Wardley vs. Dubois (May 9) and Usyk vs Verhoeven (May 23) PPVs all included with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription for £22.99/$44.99 per month.
