Fury vs. Chisora 3 Preview
Tyson Fury is returning to the ring on Saturday December 3rd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. He will defend his lineal WBC heavyweight title in a trilogy fight against Derek Chisora.
The two originally fought in 2011 with Fury winning by unanimous decision and in 2014 where Fury won by 10th round TKO. Since then Fury has stayed undefeated and has become one of the most successful heavyweight champions of all-time. Chisora has had mixed success since fighting Fury but will have the opportunity on Saturday to erase everything that has happened the last eight years by shocking the world with a win and becoming a heavyweight champion.
Fury is coming off a sixth round TKO over Dillian Whyte in April improving his record to 32-0-1 with 23 KO. He sees the fight with Chisora going the same way as the first two meetings.
“Derek Chisora has nothing that I want at all. Zero. I took his virgin record in 2011, and then I gave him a good hiding in the second fight in 2014, and then I’ll almost certainly give him a good hiding on December 3rd, Fury said.
“To say that he has anything that I want or need, he doesn’t. Neither does any of them. None of these fighters in the division has anything that I would say, ‘I want that.’ I don’t want anything. All bums will get knocked out,” he said.
Aside from Chisora and Whyte, Fury has key wins in his career over Deontay Wilder (twice), Otto Wallin, Tom Schwarz, Wladimir Klitschko, Christian Hammer, Steve Cunningham and Kevin Johnson. The boxing world is waiting to see if Fury will fight unified champion Oleksandr Usyk provided that Fury wins on Saturday and does not retire. The champion cannot take Chisora lightly as his opponent has everything to gain and very little to lose.
Chisora is coming off a split decision win over Kubrat Pulev in July which was the rebound he needed after losing decisions to Usyk and former champion Joseph Parker. The 38-year-old believes he was robbed by the judges against Usyk and hopes the same thing does not happen on Saturday.
“Let’s all be honest – on the Usyk fight, I was winning,” Chisora said. “I won that fight. I knocked him down, they didn’t give it to me. You know, this is a problem. You know, and I just hope for this fight on December 3rd that it will be fair judging and a fair ref. You know, because there’s so much going on in this camp for me, you know, I don’t want people to be biased. I just want people to come in with an open mind and be fair. You know, because I know for a fact I’m not coming to lay down. And he’s not coming to lay down, so we just want it to be – I just want it to be fair, basically.”
Chisora knows how difficult it will be to shock the world on Saturday. “It’s gonna be hard but I’m prepared to go through the storm to go get what's his and make mines. I have to knock this man out for me to win,” he said.
The co-main event of the card will also be for a heavyweight title as Daniel Dubois will defend his WBA “regular” title against Kevin Lerena.
Dubois (18-1, 17 KO) won the title in his last fight in June with a fourth round KO of Trevor Bryan. The British fighter believes a win over Lerena catapults him into bigger fights with the likes of Fury. "I'm looking to go to the big league and progress from this fight," Dubois said. "I want to lay my mark down on this division and what ever [Lerena] brings I'm going to have to deal with it.”
The 25-year-old continued, "If they want it, Usyk or Tyson, either one of them, I don't mind who, Anthony Joshua and whoever, these are the fights I want. Having the WBA 'regular' title puts me right up there at the front of the queue. I'm No 1 ranked with the WBA, I'm doing it the right way.
"I just need to perform now, I've been out the ring a while, I need to get my career moving again.
"There are some big fights out there, I'm just outside the big league of Fury, AJ, Usyk, Deontay Wilder... These are the guys I want next and I'm fighting to get to that next level. I'm not really looking at who is behind me.”
He concluded, "I'm looking to step up to the plate, and demolish them."
Lerena (28-1, 14 KO) has won 17 straight fights and most recently defeated Mariusz Wach by unanimous decision in September. He is looking forward to the biggest opportunity of his career against Dubois.
“It’s a massive occasion, 70,000 people at the Tottenham stadium. It’s crazy; it’s surreal,” Lerena said. “I think it’s a great matchup. He’s a very tough competitor; I know the mountain ahead of me is a big one, but I’ve prepared adequately and am looking forward to the challenge. Champions are there to be beaten and beasts are there to be tamed.”
The South African fighter knows what kind of challenge Dubois will bring to the fight on Saturday. “He’s good, he’s strong,” said Lerena. “He’s the WBA world champion. [Editor’s note: Dubois holds the WBA’s secondary title, which The Ring does not recognize.] He’s got a phenomenal record: 18 wins, 17 by KO. He has a high KO ratio. It’s no secret he’s a big puncher, but you’ve got to ask yourself, ‘Who’s he knocked out?’ I’m very different from the guys he’s fought and I’m a true test for him. Now let’s see how good he really is.”
“Of course, there’s lots of weaknesses in his game. There’s weaknesses in my game. It’s just having the ability to exploit them. Does he have the ability to exploit mine? And do I have the ability to exploit his? We’re going to have to see on December 3.”
