Fury cruises his way to mismatched win over brave Chisora
Tyson Fury retained his WBC heavyweight crown by beating Derek Chisora, who’ll be 39 at the end of this month, in a complete mismatch at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last night.
Damon Runyon, the late American sports writer and humorist, once wrote: “The race is not always to the swift or the fight to the strongest. But that is the way to bet.”
His wise words, however, were ignored by the crowd of 60,000, and the many more who coughed up the £27 to watch on pay-per-view.
To call this a fight would be like describing what happens in an abbatoir as a hunt.
Chisora was brave but failed to win a single round, and his 13th career defeat (three of them against Fury) was belatedly confirmed when Scots referee, Victor Loughlin, finally halted the contest in the 10th round.
Afterwards, Fury invited Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, on to the lip of the ring and taunted the Ukrainian calling him, among other things, “a midget bodybuilder”.
The former’s promoter, Frank Warren, meanwhile claimed that he wants the two men to unify the division early in 2023.
“I needed the rounds because I hadn’t fought for eight months but I felt good in there,” claimed Fury.
“I was hitting him with shots which would have put any other heavyweight down. But he stood up to them because he’s an absolute warrior, a British folk hero.”
Chisora was first to unload once the bell rang, pushing the champion back into his own corner. But Fury soon exploited his height, weight and reach advantages to put his opponent under pressure.
Fury’s did some damage with right and left uppercuts, and wobbled Chisora with a short right, which saw him seek the solace of the ropes – only to become a punch bag.
Chisora attempted to land shots of his own in the third but he was too often caught by Fury’s heavy hands, and he did well to finish the round.
In the heavyweight division, contests as one-sided as this can be dangerous for the inferior fighter, and even Fury occasionally appeared to be wary of inflicting even more damage.
He helped out his friend by taking a breather in round four, while still doing enough to extend his advantage.
The fifth was another shutout for the Gypsy King as he outboxed the shorter man, landing punches almost at will as Chisora ploughed forward, providing an easy target.
Fury dictated the tempo and Chisora looked unsteady on his feet after being pushed into a corner.
The younger man was so dominant, he could have ended the bout at any point but seemed content to carry his rival, staggering his opponent again in the eighth.
Quite why Chisora’s corner did not end their man’s agony by throwing in the towel at the end of the ninth is a matter for their consciences.
By then, a points win for the underdog was by then no longer unlikely – but impossible.