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David Haye, manager of heavyweight contender Derek Chisora, claims the team behind Oleksandr Usyk admitted that Chisora could have been the winner last October.
Usyk, in his second fight as a heavyweight, won a twelve round unanimous decision based on two tight scorecards and one wider card.
Two judges saw it 115-113, while a third had Usyk a little more ahead with 117-112.
“We’ve had many, many moments over the years,” Haye told Sky Sports. “The high point for me, was the final bell against Oleksandr Usyk, in his last fight. He really pushed it and I was sitting with Usyk’s team and they all looked at me and said: ‘Derek has won that fight.’
“They were scoring it, they had Derek winning by one or two rounds, and they said it was a close fight, but we definitely feel Derek won that fight. I thought he won the fight as well, although the judges had it the other way.”
Chisora is back on Saturday night in a crossroads fight against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker.
The winner will likely move a big step forward when it comes to a potential world title shot in the next twelve months.
Haye believes Chisora has a lot of life left in his body based on the performance against Usyk.
“Derek Chisora, who has lost 10 professional fights now, was able to push the No 1 contender in the world at heavyweight to the absolute limit and lose on such a fine margin,” Haye said.
“That showed to me that okay, everyone thought he was going to get his head boxed off, that he was going to get absolutely annihilated, and he didn’t. It was because he did what he needed to do in those training sessions to give himself the best chance. Although it was a lowlight, it was still a highlight to know that it can be done. He was very close. Hopefully what we missed out on last time, we’ll be able to go that little bit further.”