The pair, who were both taking part in their 50th professional fight, tangled in a wild, up-and-down encounter during which they both touched down.

Judge Phil Edwards scored the fight 115-112 in Chisora’s favor, but Shawn McAvoy (115-111) and Marcus McDonnell (115-113) combined to hand Wilder a split decision victory that keeps him in the hunt for even bigger nights.

“I feel good,” the Bronze Bomber said. “He came like a lion to fight, but I don’t play when I’m in here.

“London, you were witness tonight to what power and destiny is all about. What a magnificent fight it was, and I give all the glory and thanks to God.

“Tonight was a lot of fun. I’m a king, and I showed that tonight. It took time for me to heal, but I’m back, and I’m going to get better and better.”

This was Wilder’s first fight in the UK since 2013, when he sent Audley Harrison into retirement with a devastating first-round knockout. After that fight, he called out Tyson Fury, and he would eventually get that wish, combining with the Gypsy King in one of the great heavyweight trilogies of all time.

But those days are long gone, and Wilder has looked nothing like the destructive force he was as he approached the first of those fights, the controversial Los Angeles draw in December 2018.

It has been suggested that neither Fury nor Wilder has been the same since those battles but the man from Alabama has struggled most obviously. After their initial draw, he was stopped in the second and third fights, which started a run of four defeats in six outings before tonight.

It is why he arrived in London for this, his 50th fight, as the betting underdog against British cult hero Chisora. It is not inaccurate to suggest that there have been calls for Chisora to retire for the best part of a decade, but he has rolled on regardless. After fighting here at the 02 for the first time in December 2015, in his 29th fight, he has boxed here more than anyone else. This was No. 11 and, he insisted, his final time. We will see about that.

Just like he had for his professional debut across London at Wembley Arena 19 years ago, Chisora got the tube to the venue and even walked in through the main entrance. Wearing his trademark black stetson and Union Jack bandana, pushing his youngest daughter in a pram and holding his eldest by the hand, Chisora was not easy to miss.

He has turned this place into his fortress over the latter years of his career, and the crowd saluted him as such as he walked to the ring for the final time. Wilder’s ring walk, meanwhile, was drowned out completely by the crowd singing Chisora’s name.

This fight, MF Pro’s first main event on English soil, had been marketed partially on the fact it was both men’s 50th outing. They are now both into their 40s and refused to engage in any trash talk during a series of well-mannered media events.

But once the fight started, Chisora, at a career-heaviest 226½ pounds, was straight onto a bewildered Wilder, who wore strange black and gold tights beneath his shorts. It nearly descended into farce midway through the first, when both men, tangled on the ropes, refused to stop punching despite the referee’s desparate attrempts to pry them apart. Even one of Chisora’s cornermen jumped in to try and help.

The second was slightly tidier, with Wilder beginning to find his range against the marauding Chisora, who knocked himself down with a swing and a miss at one point. The home favorite even went southpaw in the third round but only found himself trapped in a corner.

Then toward the end of the third, Chisora began to complain to the referee that he couldn’t see, but Wilder correctly took his opportunity to launch an attack. He continued to complain during the break but still emerged for the fourth. Wilder was growing into the fight and was beginning to keep Chisora on the end of his jab with more authority.

But it was from there that Chisora landed his trademark overhand right which clearly wobbled the Alabama puncher. Another would follow before the end of the round with Wilder somehow hanging on.

Chisora went down twice in the fifth but both times were the result of Wilder pushes as the fight tiptoed the line between fan-friendly action and two 40-somethings brawling. In truth, it was a heady mix of both.

Coach Jay Deas, who welcomed the raw novice Wilder into his gym way back in 2005, barked orders at his man before the sixth, and the former WBC champion responded by reasserting his control, opening up a cut around Chisora’s left eye.

By the seventh, both men were clearly exhausted and the pace dropped completely. They did have time for another roll around, however, as Chisora appeared to drag Wilder to the floor by his legs. Only a few feet away at ringside, Anthony Joshua, who was once a wide-eyed beginner inspired by the pictures of Chisora on the Finchley Amateur Boxing Club wall, looked on.

Midway through the eighth, Wilder shipped a huge right hand but smiled and responded with his best combination of the fight, which sent Chisora wheeling across the ring. Wilder pursued and sent him through the ropes with his next shot to score the first knockdown of the fight. Chisora somehow regained his footing to beat the count, but was swiftly sent back through the ropes. This time referee Mark Bates called it a push and deducted a point from Wilder.

In the 10th, Chisora decided to spend time back in the corner, allowing Wilder to tee off on him. “What are you doing, Derek?” His corner cried. “You’re losing this round.” It looked as though the man known as ‘War’ had simply ran out of steam, but still he roared back with another overhand right which drew a grin from Wilder. However Wilder was not smiling in the 11th when the very same shot put him over for the first time in the fight, although he clambered back to his feet in good time.

By now there were multiple fights breaking out in the crowd, which added to the pure pandemonium in the ring during the final round, although both men ended the fight on their feet and quickly embraced. Alphaville’s 1984 classic ‘Forever Young’ blared through the speakers almost immediately.

Forever Young? Not quite. But Chisora gave it a good go.

“This is my last fight,” he said. “I know I lost this one.”