What should have been remembered as a bizarre, emotional main event between Deontay Wilder and Derek Chisora has instead been overshadowed by chaotic and ugly scenes in the crowd, with fans branding the behaviour “pathetic”.
Shocking footage from inside London’s O2 Arena shows the MF Pro Heavyweight bout fighters – which operates under KSI’s Misfits boxing promotion company – duking it out on centre stage before panning ringside where a far less masterful display of the sweet science was taking place.
“This is the craziest s**t I’ve ever seen bro,” the filmer can be heard saying as the scuffle broke out.
Security guards were quickly on site however some were quick to criticise their efficiency with the fight taking at least 30 seconds to resolve and only one person being visibly escorted out in the video.
The video, captioned “So many fights broke out in the crowd this was insane”, quickly sparked a fierce backlash online.
“Security just stood there watching like a fat gang of mongs,” one fan wrote.
Another added: “Why do blokes go to watch boxing and think they’re Chuck Norris.”
A third claimed the chaos wasn’t isolated, writing: “You missed the other one that was massive on the other side lower tier. The whole cavalry came in to take them out. Mental but amazing night! … I was in box and caught all ‘3’ fights. Lol.”
“Boxing tribalism is crazy,” another said.
The crowd drama unfolded during an already extraordinary fight that had fans talking for very different reasons.
In a bizarre moment late in the bout, Wilder appeared to tell Chisora, “I’m sorry … I love you” — before unleashing a brutal right hand that sent his rival crashing through the ropes in the eighth round.
Despite being rocked earlier by a huge overhand from Chisora, the American roared back with a flurry of hooks before scoring multiple knockdowns late in the contest.
Chisora refused to go quietly, even dropping Wilder in the 11th round to keep the fight alive in a dramatic back-and-forth finish.
After 12 rounds, the judges awarded Wilder a split decision victory (115-111, 115-113, 112-115), with doubt over both the fighters futures it brought a high note to Wilder’s career — albeit in strange circumstances.
In an emotional post-fight interview, Wilder revealed he had deliberately held back.
“I saw the veins popping out of his temple … I didn’t want to hurt my brother. I said, ‘you’ve got to live for your kids’,” he said.
“This is my brother, I love him so much.”
The phenomenon of crowd fights at combat sport events is far from a new one and although it must be stressed these are not underlying reasons behind the fights there are several factors that may have contributed to an increase in crowd bouts at the event.
“Usually, people are drinking lots of alcohol, either at the games or at home watching it, and alcohol is going to make people make very dumb choices,” advanced placement psychology teacher Warren Collier said. “And that can lead to things like violence.”
Emotional “spillovers” also contribute to these incidents. According to Mr Collier, immense emotional arousal from one situation can “spill over” into other intense emotions after the fact, and with the native Chisora looking sluggish the further the fight progressed English fans attentions may have been drawn elsewhere.
“So let’s say I’m really excited that our team won, and I’ll stay happy about it,” Mr Collier said. “But if my team loses, now I’m upset. And I have lots of physical arousal, like my heart is beating fast and I’m really excited. So now that excited feeling turns into anger and rage … unfortunately, the target of that rage might be other people.”
