Unchoppable

Forty five years old, a veteran of 85 fights and with his form in freefall, DeMarcus Corley tells Elliot Worsell why he has no intention of retiring.

- Elliot Worsell

THE fight game has always been a numbers game for DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley. He chased big ones to change lives. He put up big ones to leave his mark.

Now 45, Corley still plays the game and, consequently, the numbers go up. There are 85 professional fights to go with his 119 amateur bouts and he has now competed in 19 different countries. (Because the list is more impressive than a number, they are as follows: USA, China, Puerto Rico, England, Nicaragua, Kazakhstan, Russia, Argentina, Ukraine, Canada, Northern Ireland, Turkey, Bolivia, Mexico, Sweden, Denmark, Jamaica, Guyana and Nigeria.)

Some numbers, however, stay the same. A number like 140, for instance, represents Corley’s weight, in pounds, the night he made his pro debut and is the weight at which he has campaigned for most of his career. Another is 25. Corley says he feels 25 years of age despite the fact it’s not 1999 and he has lost his last four fights and six of his last nine.

But the magic number, in terms of understanding why the Washington southpaw keeps going, is this: as well as 51 wins, 33 defeats and one draw, DeMarcus Corley has 11 – yes, eleven – children. That’s six boys and five girls, as good a reason as any to continue chopping.

“Not finished,” he told Boxing News. “Not finished at all. I’m looking to fight again before this year is out and I’m also looking to do some bare-knuckle fighting.

“I want to test the waters and see if a fighter is willing to step in there and stand toe-to-toe. It ain’t boxing. It’s a totally different fight game.