Frank Warren speaks after Derek Chisora's victory over Joe Joyce in London

IT was a good night at London's O2 Arena last night, with promoter Frank Warren as excited as anyone about Derek Chisora ​​and Joe Joyce in their ten-round heavyweight co-main event. Chisora ​​won on points, which was surprising considering he looked tired for much of the contest.

“I didn't think it would go that far,” Frank admitted. “I thought the favorite was Joe, and I think a lot of people felt the same way. It takes two gladiators to create a fight like that, and you have to take your hat off to them.”

Warren saw a close battle that flowed back and forth until the final few laps, where Derek pulled away for the win.

“It's amazing, I mean, you look at their ages, I don't know how Derek does it, to be honest. I don't know how Joe does it, or him. They couldn't remember each other sometimes. I mean every punch they threw connected.

“I didn't think there was much to it, I really didn't [prior to Joyce being knocked down in the ninth]. I thought Joe was winning the round, until he got hit. In the last round, he came back strong at the end of the last round, and I thought that gave him the fight for a few rounds.”

While Joyce's career prospects have been hanging in the balance ahead of the fight he was expected to win, a defeat like this may not spell the end for the Londoner, who showed heart, guts and a chin that was tested time and time again.

Warren thinks it's too close to fix him yet. Things may look different when the dust settles in a few weeks.

“I have said that I feel as if the loser of this war does not know where we will go. But I never predicted or thought it would be such a fight. I thought it would be competitive, but I never thought it would be like this in a million years.”

As July draws to a close, ranking the contenders for the battle of the year becomes a daunting task. Warren was pleased with the overall quality of the card and referred to Fury vs. Usyk as a matchup to remember when pressed for good fights in 2024. While Chisora ​​and Joyce didn't hold such high stakes, they did.

“This, at its level, was amazing, without a doubt,” he said.

Although Chisora ​​has a reputation for being a spiky character at times, difficult to pin down and deal with, Frank was touched by his words of praise after the fight. Chisora ​​also revealed the influence Warren's actor, the late Dean Powell, had on his career.

“I have to be honest, there are no words for that, really, because Dean has worked for me for so many years. He was a friend of ours, and he killed himself very badly, and he was very close to Derek and stuff. So it was a terrible loss, but [Derek] mention them [Dean]I thought it was top notch,” concluded Frank Warren.