WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 32-0-1 (23) is talking up his trilogy fight against gatekeeper Derek Chisora 33-12 (23) at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on December 3, saying he present as tough of a task as WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk 20-0 (13).
The 34-year-old Brit holds two victories over Chisora early on in his career. In their first fight in 2011 Fury won on points. Their rematch three years later ended in a 10th round stoppage win for Fury.
Fury originally wanted to face Usyk in December, but the 35-year-old Ukrainian southpaw revealed he would not be ready to fight until next year following his second victory over former unified champion Anthony Joshua 24-3 (22) in August.
Fury then tried to negotiate a bout with fellow Brit Joshua, 33, in December but those negotiations fell through too.
Instead, Fury will face Chisora for the third time. The 38-year-old has lost three of his last four bouts, including a unanimous decision loss to Usyk two years ago.
Fury says Chisora will present a tougher challenge to him than Usyk.
“He comes and does exactly what it says on the tin – he goes to war,” Fury said. “He has changed his name from Del Boy to War and we’re going to get a war. I did outbox him comfortably the second time, but Chisora’s style has changed and so has mine! I used to be a tip-tap boxer on the back foot, jibbing and jabbing around the ring, but now I’m an HMS destroyer!
“When you’ve got two heavy forces colliding then someone is getting knocked out. If he lands a punch on me, a big swing, I’m getting knocked out. If I land a big swing on him then he’s getting knocked out, so the fans are going to win.
“[Chisora] done very well against Usyk. And may I say, who the hell is Usyk? People didn’t know his name until he beat the bodybuilder the other day. He was a little, small heavyweight who wasn’t going to do anything against AJ when Chisora fought him. But then he stepped up and beat the big bodybuilder and now all of a sudden, he’s the killer. I don’t think so.
“Listen, I rate Derek Chisora as highly as I rate Usyk, and I will train as hard for Derek as I will for any man in the world. If I didn’t, I would have to be an absolute idiot – I will not underestimate Derek Chisora. God forbid I got beat, it won’t be for the fact that I had an injury or I didn’t train hard enough, it would be the fact that I lost to a better man on the night.
“We’re going to have a fight and that’s it. It’s going to be a good fight too, because he doesn’t shy away and I’m running nowhere, so someone is getting chinned.”
