By: Sean Crose
Determined to fight again before the end of 2022, lineal and WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will be entering the ring again on December 3’d His opponent? An old friend and nemesis, Derek Chisora, who Fury has already bested twice before. Although this clearly isn’t the fight most fans wanted, it keeps the 34 year old Fury active while providing the 38 year old Chisora another shot at a world title. The scheduled twelve rounder will go down at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and will be broadcast live in the United States courtesy of ESPN+.
Fury is one of boxing’s great wildcards. After besting Wladimir Klitschko in what was pretty much a super sized upset back in 2015, the man dropped out of the sport, awash in drugs, booze, food, and depression. To his everlasting credit, however, he returned and ultimately fought a classic trilogy with American powerhouse Deontay Wilder. Still undefeated at 32-0-1, the Englishman had offered Anthony Joshua a chance to regain heavyweight glory a few weeks back, but the negotiations fell through. With a bout against fellow titlist Oleksandr Usyk not happening until early next year at the earliest, Fury has turned to a familiar opponent.
Chisora is the kind of scrappy vet whose hard not to like. With a record of 33-12, the man isn’t going to compete for Rocky Marciano’s perfect heavyweight resume. Still, Chisora is always game and it’s nice to see him get the opportunity to prove himself the star of his own Rocky story. For few will give the fighter known as “War” much of a chance to shock the world come December. In 2011, he lost to Fury by unanimous decision. In 2014, he lost to Fury again when his corner stopped the fight after ten rounds of combat.
Still Fury, showman that he is, will most likely promote the December 3’d fight with great energy. “LET’S HAVE IT THEN DEL BOY!!!!,” the towering Brit posted on Twitter Thursday. “SEE YOU DECEMBER 3RD LONDON!” Chisora responded in comical fashion. “Thank you for the opportunity @Tyson_Fury,” he tweeted. “I’ll show my appreciation in the ring by knocking you out. I’m bringing my black belt in crazy #WAR.” This will be Fury’s third defense of the WBC title he won from Wilder in 2021. His last fight ended in a thunderous single shot knockout of Dillian Whyte back in April. Chistora’s last fight was a UD victory over Kubrat Pulev this past July.