The first encounter between then rising Heavyweight
prospects Tyson Fury and Dereck Chisora established both fighters as players in
the Heavyweight division. Although the undefeated Tyson Fury clearly won the
first encounter between himself and Chisora, there was significant
interest/anticipation for the rematch between the two now top Heavyweight
contenders.
Prior to the rematch between Fury and Chisora, I stated that
from a stylistic standpoint that this fight could have been expected to be
fought in much of the same way that the first fight between the two was fought.
The question that I had prior to this rematch was whether or not Chisora would
be able to let his hands go more consistently than had been the case in the
first fight. Although Chisora was able to have periodic success in the first
encounter, he was not able to keep a consistent offensive rhythm throughout the
fight and Fury was able to outwork him and box his way to a convincing twelve
round unanimous decision. It would be up to Chisora to change the landscape of
how the rematch would be fought.
The second encounter between the two however, was more or
less a continuation from where the first fight in 2011 had left off when the
two met on November 29th at the ExCel Center in London, England. Fury using his
6’9 height and 85” reach to keep the 6’1
½ Chisora at distance and unable to land anything significant. Fury’s longer
reach and combination punching were the story of this fight as he easily
dictated how the fight would be fought and frankly administered a beating to
Chisora. The fight did not live up to the anticipation that some had leading up
to it. This was due to Fury’s fight plan in using his lateral movement to
control distance and tying Chisora up whenever Chisora would get close.
Although it may not have been the most entertaining fight to
watch, from a Boxing standpoint Fury fought a near perfect fight against a
shorter opponent in not allowing that opponent to be able to get into a
position where he could potentially be effective. The one-sided contest was
stopped by Chisora’s corner after the conclusion of the tenth round giving Fury
his second victory over Chisora and the twenty third victory of his career in
as many fights. The win for Fury also won him the British and European
Heavyweight championships and now puts him as the number one contender in the
World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) Heavyweight ratings and in line to challenge
unified IBF/WBA/WBO/IBO Heavyweight world champion Wladimir Klitschko.
The question that some may be wondering coming out of this
fight is whether or not Fury will be the next challenger for Klitschko.
Klitschko, as readers may recall has spent the last year fulfilling his mandatory
title defense obligations defeating each of the top contenders in the WBA, IBF,
and WBO Heavyweight ratings defeating Alexander Povetkin, Alex Leapai, and most
recently Kubrat Pulev who he knocked out in five rounds on November 15th in
what was Klitschko’s seventeenth successful title defense.
Some readers may recall this observer stating after
Klitschko’s knockout of Pulev that one option for Klitschko would be for him to
face the winner of the rematch between Fury and Chisora. Although Klitschko has
for the moment fulfilled his mandatory obligations with no current mandatory
challengers in either the World Boxing Association (WBA) or the International
Boxing Organization (IBO) respective Heavyweight ratings and thus would
theoretically allow Klitschko to make an elective defense against a top
contender of his choosing, this observer believes that a fight between
Klitschko and Fury makes the most sense as 2015 approaches.
As I discussed following Klitschko’s knockout of Kubrat
Pulev, there are other options that are available for Klitschko if he decides
to not make another mandatory title defense right away. Possible fights against the likes of former
WBA Heavyweight world champion Ruslan Chagaev, who currently holds
interim/regular champion status in the WBA’s ratings, but has not been
designated as the WBA’s mandatory challenger for Klitschko as of this writing,
top contender Bryant Jennings, who is currently in line to face the winner of
the potential fight between WBC world champion Bermane Stiverne and current WBC
mandatory challenger Deontay Wilder, and finally current IBF number two rated
contender Vyacheslav Glazkov could all be potential options.
In this observer’s opinion however, with only one current
mandatory challenger and much of the rest of the Heavyweight division in limbo
as the end of 2014 approaches, Tyson Fury should be next in line for Klitschko
in what would be Klitschko’s eighteenth championship defense. It will be
interesting to if Klitschko-Fury will be made for some time in early 2015.
As for Dereck Chisora, it will also be interesting to see
where he goes following his second loss to Tyson Fury. Although Chisora was
dominated in both fights against a much bigger man, Chisora is still a
contender in the Heavyweight division and could be a potential opponent for any
of the contenders in the division who are looking to position themselves in
line for potential title shots.
An issue for Chisora and really any Heavyweight who does not
have the benefit of height and long reach in the current era of the division
will be having to face fighters who are taller, bigger, and enjoy a reach
advantage over them. Chisora has experienced this twice in fights against Tyson
Fury and although he was quite “Game” also in his fight with Vitali Klitschko.
In the case of his fights with Fury as well as his fight with Klitschko, the Boxing
physics were not in Chisora’s favor and if Chisora is going to remain a player
in the Heavyweight division, he will need to find an answer that will allow him
to effectively compete with fighters who are much bigger than him. Chisora does
have punching power and has shown, despite losing five of his twenty-five
professional fights that he can give most in the division a difficult fight and
even gave Vitali Klitschko his fair share of difficulty when they fought in
2012. If Chisora cannot find a way to deal with fighters who are much bigger
and have a significant reach advantage over him however, his future as a
Heavyweight contender may be in question.
“And That’s The Boxing Truth.”
The Boxing Truth® is a registered trademark of Beau Denison
All Rights Reserved.
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