‘I held back a couple of times’: Deontay Wilder admits feeling sympathy in Derek Chisora fight

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 04: Deontay Wilder punches Derek Chisora during the Heavyweight fight between Derek Chisora and Deontay Wilder as part of the Dereck Chisora v Deontay Wilder: 100 fight night at The O2 Arena on April 04, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images) | Getty Images Deontay Wilder showed up to the post-fight press conference to discuss his split decision win over Derek Chisora and reflects on the range of emotions he felt in the ring while simultaneously trying to put Chisora to sleep while also not wanting to see his friend get seriously hurt. Wilder says there were even a couple of moments in the fight where he held himself back because he just wanted to see Chisora get back to his family okay.

Check out some excerpts of what Wilder had to say below with the full video interview in the link above. Wilder on facing Chisora in a farewell fight “Look, the man done fought everybody. As a fighter you can only wish to fight as many credible fighter as he has done so why not be able to retire at this point in time?

Even in the ring I was thinking about his retirement. It was times where my team say ‘alright, it’s time to push forward and put a little bit more pressure’ but I held back a couple of times because when I cut his eye open I started thinking about him being with his children. When I saw veins coming out of his temple I started thinking about ‘this is a dangerous sport.

’ “I felt a little sympathy for him, I even was talking to him. I was like ‘Derek, come on bro. We need to stop this, man.