After consecutive wins over Wilder and Whyte, some might say Chisora coming next is acceptable, writes Matt Christie
The third fight between Tyson Fury and Derek Chisora is a tough one to sell. Fury was a comfortable winner when they met in 2011 and even more so in the 2014 rematch. Ever since that comeback – the fight made many of us realize that Tyson is truly special. How different – Chisora lost seven out of 17 games. Fury, meanwhile, won 10 and drew one. Chisora, a 9/1 younger, is almost 39 years old and has suffered a number of gruesome attacks in recent years. It’s really impossible to imagine a scenario where he won.
But we will be given that possibility. This is heavyweight boxing where anything can happen, after all. At an outdoor stadium in December no less.
Fury fans assume he’s simply giving his old friend a chance at a world belt and the kind of payday that comes with it. That could be admired to an extent if this weren’t for heavyweight boxing where anything can happen. Chisora probably doesn’t need the kind of testimonial he’s getting hit in the head. So you can say your ‘cruel to kind’ nonsense.
Maybe the plan was for Tyson to take Chisora down. Does that make it okay? Of course not. It makes it worse. Not that he would, or at least one thinks not when there is a BT Sport Box Office price tag attached to it.
It’s hard to blame Frank Warren for this if you can put yourself in his shoes. Fury wants to fight before the end of the year after retiring for five months. Fury is Warren’s most prized possession. Warren won’t lose her chance to enter a lucrative Fury-Usyk or Fury-Joshua contest in 2023 by putting her foot down now. So he will take the advertising schtick seriously with an eye to the future. However, you can be sure that Frank wouldn’t mind revealing his true thoughts on the match if it was staged by an opposing promoter.
For balance, it’s important to remember that Chisora isn’t the worst title challenger the heavyweight division has ever seen. Though he went wrong (and sometimes right) in some unknowns, he was still marketable and, as marked against Kubrat Pulev, only capable. He is very rarely in a dull fight. He is something that is loved by boxing fans. He is loved in a crazy way.
We were worse.
This is better Riddick Bowe than Michael Dokes. Better than many challengers defeated by Joe Louis. Some defenses from Muhammad Ali’s second reign also leave a lot to be desired. Joe Frazier flopped against opponents like Dave Zyglewicz and Terry Daniels. George Foreman cut through Jose Roman. And if you’re in the club that believes Fury has been the world heavyweight champion since he beat Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, Chisora is a stark improvement for both Sefer Seferi and Tom Schwarz.
So yes, we had worse. However, it’s unlikely we’ve got a player who is so completely superior to the point of two third teamfights.
It could also be argued that Fury, after facing off against Deontay Wilder twice and leading contender Dillian Whyte, is due to what they commonly call a ‘gimme’. But gimmes come from an era when champions were much more active than they are today. Gimmes comes from an era where the best were always fighting their closest rivals. Gimmes used to be stopgaps, not pay-per-view events.
Fury and his supporters will not be satisfied with the criticism. Any criticism is met with scowls, insults, and unclear reasons. But those criticisms are largely based on how much we appreciate them. They know they can do better. Without a doubt, Fury has proven himself to be the leading heavyweight contender of the post-Klitschko era. But we don’t know for sure that he’s the best. It was a heavyweight era still awaiting that defining moment. Anything less than that, after all these years, is bound to disappoint you regardless of the reason why those defining contests weren’t done.
Or maybe this era will was determined on December 3. The night we won again because we lacked a champion. When we say there is not one but two ‘world heavyweight championship’ fights on the same bill because Daniel Dubois defends his bogus WBA belt against Kevin Lerena of South Africa. It’s another example of broadcasters and broadcasters breathing life into the headlines that make boxing so absurd for so many people. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Joe Joyce bring his WBO makeshift bauble to the party to enhance the appeal. Then we can have a ‘world heavyweight champion’ triple hit.
The madness of that seems forever lost to those in positions of power.
