When Tyson Fury knocked out Dillian Whyte in front of 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in April, he further solidified his standing as the best heavyweight in the world. Immediately after his dominant showing in London, the 34-year-old announced his retirement from boxing. However, for those who follow the sport closely – they knew it was unlikely that would be the last time we saw Fury grace the squared circle.
Their inclinations were correct after Oleksandr Usyk’s win over Anthony Joshua in their rematch in August – which saw the man affectionately known as the ‘Gypsy King’ announce that he would be coming out of retirement in the hopes of securing an undisputed clash with the Ukrainian three-belt champion. However, once Usyk noted that he wouldn’t be ready for a fight in December of this year – Fury’s attention turned to setting up an all-British showdown with long-time rival Joshua.
As we have seen on so many occasions in the sport of boxing in the past, politics and warring promoters hindered any chances of the fight being made – ensuring Fury was without an opponent for his desired date of December 3rd. With Usyk and Joshua out of the equation, it was unclear who Fury would face next.
Couple that with the fact that the likes of Deontay Wilder, Andy Ruiz Jr. and Joe Joyce are coming off the back of fights in recent weeks – there wasn’t a legitimate contender inside the top ten who fans were eager to see take on the Gypsy King. That is why Fury’s decision to fight Derek Chisora on December 3rd at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was met with such vitriol.
For those who bet with Paddy Power, Fury enters his fight with Chisora as the clear favourite, garnering odds of 1/18, while his opponent is 12/1. A draw is the widest at 33/1.
The pair of heavyweights have already fought on two previous occasions, with Fury getting the better of his fellow Brit by a wide unanimous decision in their first affair and by corner stoppage in the tenth round of their second bout. Since their fights, Fury has gone on to become a two-time world champion, whilst Chisora has lost seven of his last 20.
Despite the criticisms hurled at Fury and his promoter Frank Warren for putting on a fight which fails to move the needle in the heavyweight division, Warren is adamant that there’s still an appetite for it amongst the public.
“Tyson has shown his superstar-power again with a really healthy set of sales numbers yesterday. Over 50,000 tickets were sold and we are on course for a sell-out,” he said.
“Regarding a few negative mutterings about the fact Tyson is facing Chisora for a third time. I won’t attempt to rewrite history and tell you this is the fight we wanted all along. It is not. We explored the Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight, but he declared he will not be ready until early next year.
“Then Tyson made a very generous offer to Anthony Joshua, and we all know what came of that, so I won’t go over old ground. With those two out of the equation, go through the BoxRec rankings and you will see that Derek is the best and available option.”
If you’re to look at the betting tips, this match-up appears to be a forgone conclusion – however – for the fans’ sake, let’s hope Chisora can make it competitive.
