SOME people in the industry have been unhappy with lately boxing news complains that there are too many fights happening across the country where the winner is almost pre-scripted. That complaint is usually aimed at small hall performances, but on Saturday night the same thing happened right on top of a big box office event.
Like so many ticket sellers on the left side of the bill, Tyson Fury attacked the persistent but poor Derek Chisora before lifting the accelerator and dashing for victory. It should have been no more than a four-round game like that due to the disparity in qualifications, but unfortunately, this match did not end 40-36. This goes on and on until Chisora - literally spitting up blood – can barely see through her swollen right eye or stand upright on wobbly legs.
It costs £26-95 to watch at home, the kind of price tag that certainly applies only to the crème de la crème of boxing matches. This is not despite, of all people, Gordon Ramsey’s pre-fight statement that competitions like Fury-Chisora III only take place every 20 years. About an hour after Ramsey’s unfortunate random comment, Chisora, now 38 and long-lost, lost to Fury for the third time in 11 years.
While the celebrity chef’s point of view is even more deviating from Chisora’s at the end of the battle, it’s definitely worth noting. Because this proves that, in 2022, you can serve almost anything when you only serve the uneducated. The vast majority of attendees didn’t seem to care that this would always be a one-sided knockdown, so brutally predictable that a £2,000 bet on Tyson winning would only get £2,100 back. Crucially, there were no complaints from those who paid to be there, except of course the moment the massacre ended in the 10th round and, with Chisora still mostly upright, not unconscious on the floor, they broke out into a roar of boos. The true mime season is upon us but boxing, although it increasingly sees itself as such, is no harmless fun.
Thankfully, as often happens when the sport reaches new depths, there are signs of improvement in the coming year. Fury, we are told, will next face Oleksandr Usyk in a showdown that is truly not to be missed. And to the great merit of the WBC heavyweight belt holder, he also made a promise to Joe Joyce. However, if it weren’t for the post-battle history between the three of them and the battles they would obviously lead to, Fury-Chisora III wouldn’t be as unforgiving as any contest in history.
We should be at an age now where we are wiser about the dangers of boxing. It was Frank Warren who said long ago that Chisora should not be near the boxing ring. And while I’m sure he’ll find this column disrespectful, I also remember at one point he would find fights like Fury-Chisora III even more so. If any other advertiser made that fight, he would be quick to criticize. Eddie Hearn, who recently suggested Deontay Wilder as a possible opponent for war-torn Chisora, is no better. The British Boxing Control Board and the World Boxing Council also participated. That war simply shouldn’t have happened.
“But we have just sold out the most extravagant football stadium in the country,” is the counterargument, of course. In December, no less. That, on paper, is a very well done job. But we must look beyond the here and now.
The intent here is not to be disrespectful. Not with Warren or Fury, and certainly not with Chisora, a man and warrior I absolutely adore. Instead, it is a call to promoters, broadcasters, regulators and sanctioning agencies to be more concerned with the fighters and their future. Yes, Chisora was well paid, he got another chance to pay the stadium bill, but – as Elliot Worsell so eloquently wrote on our website over the weekend – what if he can’t remember them all in a few years? Furthermore, how many people on his team will be around to help when the almost inevitable rot begins.
We know Chisora is Fury’s pick, so in that respect Warren and co can affirm that they’re just pleasing their customers. But it certainly highlights why fights should be done and not just on WhatsApp.
Predictably, as Chisora tackles a hangover from Saturday night, all he wants is more of what gave him such a headache in the first place. Like a hopeless drug addict, he won’t quit. It’s not even his fault. After enjoying the best drug in the business, a stadium bout for the world heavyweight championship, it’s no wonder he’s eager for more.
