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Tyson Fury dominates Dereck Chisora to 10th-round stoppage

Fighters Network
29
Nov
Photo by Julian Finney / Getty Images

Photo by Julian Finney / Getty Images

 

Three and a half years ago Tyson Fury outboxed and outscored Dereck Chisora in a competitive and fun British and Commonwealth heavyweight title fight in London. On Saturday, however, there was nothing competitive or fun about the sight of Fury effortlessly switching between orthodox and southpaw stances to bludgeon a bloodied and swollen Chisora for 10 horribly one-sided rounds inside the ExCeL Arena, London.

The first time the pair met, at London’s Wembley Arena, Chisora was out of shape and blowing hard by the halfway mark. But still he managed to land some heavy shots in the early going and troubled Fury on more than one occasion. He was a willing dance partner, a dangerous B-side.

There was no such threat this evening, though. His night started badly and only got worse. His punches of choice, the left hook to the body and wild right hand over the top, were either blocked or wayward and coming back his way were a stream of jabs, first thrown from an orthodox Fury and then thrown with his pesky right hand when he turned southpaw.



While effective as a righty – his traditional style – Fury was a revelation upon turning southpaw. The whole picture opened up for him. His jabs flicked out and blinded Chisora as he roamed forward, and his whipping left hand found openings around the Londoner’s high-held guard. Better still, Fury’s left uppercut, a key punch in the contest, landed with all the regularity of a London tube train (the last of which ran shortly after Fury and Chisora began throwing punches at 12.30pm – yes, gone midnight).

By the sixth round, it was a case of rinse and repeat for Fury and the crowd started cottoning on to the fact. They booed their displeasure. It was too one-sided, too painful to watch. Chisora’s face was a nasty, confused, disfigured mess. The fans blamed him for them missing their trains home. Many regretted staying for the main event.

Little blame can be placed at the feet of Fury, of course. He did what he had to do. He broke Chisora up with southpaw jabs and uppercuts and avoided pretty much everything that came back the other way. He made it ugly to watch with clean, precise work. His versatility and fluidity in the left-handed stance was most impressive. It showed Fury’s perhaps more of a natural than many assume and that he’s also quite technically sound, for never once did he appear clumsy or awkward when switching stances. It all just flowed.

For Chisora, there was no flow whatsoever. His sluggish punches jammed up in the second half of the fight and he resigned himself to becoming the ‘human punchbag’ Fury had cruelly labelled him during the lengthy build-up the fight received. Mercifully, then, for all those who stayed behind and cursed their decision, and for the future of Dereck Chisora, trainer Don Charles rescued his man following 10 rounds of torture.

The win landed Fury the European heavyweight title and his old British belt. It also settled his pseudo-beef with Chisora. Next year the six-foot-nine gypsy hopes to land himself a shot at world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko and, on this evidence, he’s becoming Klitschko-esque in terms of his dominance over domestic opposition.

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