Tyson Fury – Dereck Chisora: One Writers Opinion that Fury is the Future of the Heavyweight Division

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By Lou Eisen

26 year-old behemoth British heavyweight contender, Tyson Fury made it look easy this past weekend at the ExCel Arena in London, England, by showing off his new-found maturity in the squared circle by boxing a technically brilliant fight while winning every round by a large margin, on his way to stopping the hopelessly outmatched and outclassed Dereck Chisora in ten one-sided rounds before a sold-out crowd.

This fight was an elimination bout, with the winner promised the next crack at the current undisputed, reigning and defending world heavyweight champion, Wladimir “Dr. Steelhammer” Klitschko. This bout was actually a rematch of their first fight, which Fury won in 2011 by unanimous decision. However, it would be less than truthful to call their rematch a fight, because to earn that moniker, Chisora would have had to throw punches back, which he was unable to do with any consistency, confidence or success.

This fight was a nice win for Fury and a huge embarrassment for Chisora. After such a debilitating defeat, it would seem that all Chisora has left in boxing is to continue to offer himself up as cannon fodder to any up and coming hungry young heavyweight looking to add his less than stellar name to their burgeoning career aspirations. Actually, Chisora’s corner wisely stopped the fight after round 10, as they realized that unless Fury fell into a diabetic coma, their fighter had no chance whatsoever of winning the fight. Up to that point in the match, Chisora had yet to win even a single round and his right eye was swollen shut.

It was thought in the weeks leading up to this fight that the Herculean Fury, who stands a whopping 6’9”, with an astounding 85 inch reach, and usually towers over all of his foes, especially Chisora, would make very short work of the challenger, by taking the fight to him from the opening bell in an effort to score a spectacular early rounds knockout. Fury used an entirely different strategy, as devised by his brilliant trainer Don Charles, which fooled everyone present, especially the game but dramatically out of his depth challenger, Chisora. With the victory, Fury improved his pro record to 24-0, KO18, while Chisora’s record falls to 20-5, KO13.

Chisora was way in over his head from the start, both figuratively and literally speaking. Chisora is short by heavyweight standards, standing only one half inch over six feet with an arm length of 74 inches, an alarming 11 inches shorter than Fury’s impressive wing span. Fury stood almost eight full inches taller than Chisora. It was that huge disparity in height and reach (and talent) that gave Fury a considerable advantage in the fight; allowing him to totally dominate Chisora in every round with his relentless and powerful piston-like left jabs. In fact, Fury, who is listed as an orthodox fighter, fought almost the entire fight from a southpaw stance, which confused and intimidated the 30 year-old Chisora to no end. In fact, Fury looked extremely comfortable fighting as a lefty.

Fury exhibited tremendous poise while dismantling Chisora with the greatest of ease, using the entire ring and masterful ring generalship to control Chisora for every minute of every round. Of all the tactics and weaponry that Chisora expected Fury to bring to the fight, he was no doubt not expecting Fury to box patiently, conservatively and effectively from a distance in a southpaw stance for the entire contest.

Fury controlled every round with his long right jab which, served to effectively keep Chisora at bay and unable to get in close to work the bigger man’s body. Fury wisely made the fight easy on himself, by intelligently using his battering ram of a jab to keep Chisora in check and on the perimeter of the ring for all ten rounds the fight lasted, which is something his many fans have been clamoring for him to do since the beginning of his career. It was a sign of maturity in Fury’s continuing development on the world stage.

Chisora was completely flummoxed as to how to counteract the big man’s successful strategy in order to get close enough to land even one punch of significance to either the head or body. Unfortunately for the “Del Boy,” he did not even connect with a single punch of any worth throughout the fight. Flury showed that he is not only effectively ambidextrous but also very comfortable and relaxed while fighting in a southpaw stance. Fury’s poise was truly something to behold.

More troubling of course for Chisora was that Fury took his time and dictated the pace of the fight, easily outgunning and out boxing the much smaller Chisora. Fury was an imposing mountain of brains and brawn that Chisora was unable to scale.

By fighting from the southpaw stance, Fury showed the world and specifically Wladimir Klitschko a new wrinkle in his ever-expanding arsenal of ring weaponry and tactics. This can only serve to make Fury an even bigger threat to Klitschko’s current long-reigning heavyweight supremacy than before. It is just one more thing that Klitschko will have to worry about when defending his myriad of world heavyweight titles against the hungry young and talented British warrior. The only world title bauble that Klitschko does not possess is the WBC belt, which is currently held by Canadian Bermane Stiverne, who is set to face undefeated American Deontay Wilder on January 17, 2015 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

A question was put to Fury’s trainer, Don Charles, before the bout. “How would a guy like Chisora overcome such a substantial disadvantage in height and reach?” The quick response from Charles was, “He doesn’t.” Charles was true to his word and then some. Interestingly enough, the fight with Chisora was billed as a heavyweight title bout eliminator, with the winner promised a shot at the universally recognized and undisputed heavyweight world champion, Wladimir Klitschko. If Fury gets his title shot with Klitschko, who has not lost a fight in 10 years, he would enter that bout with some startling advantages to his credit.

Klitshcko stands 6’6” tall. That means that Fury would have a three-inch height advantage over the defending champion, which, if anything, is at least a psychological edge for Fury, in as much as the champ has yet to face anyone taller than himself. Fury’s vast ring skills have developed magnificently. He showed against the less than formidable Chisora that he is able to outthink his opponents on the fly, when the circumstances call for it. Fury also delighted in displaying to the audience that he is definitely able to pace himself well in a fight, rather than risk getting caught early with a lucky shot due to over eagerness.

Fury, for the first time in his career, used the whole ring to his advantage which made his considerable assets in height and reach that much more effective and imposing. He showed Chisora a lot of different angles, while consistently using head feints, shoulder feints, while keeping the fight on the outside, away from ring center and off of the ropes. Fury is maturing into a top-flight, elite heavyweight with a very bright future ahead of him.

Unlike in previous bouts, Fury never allowed Chisora to turn him, even for a brief moment, into a static target. He was impossible to catch with a good flush shot to the body or head. In the clinches, Fury used his voluminous bulk to completely immobilize the smaller and dispirited Chisora, while displaying proper pacing, ring control, ring intelligence, poise and patience. All of these are attributes necessary to beat a champion the caliber of Klitschko. Fury now seems destined to be the ONLY man capable of dethroning Klitschko. Fury, at this moment, is standing on the very precipice of true ring stardom, ready to grasp his destiny. He is on the very doorstep of everlasting ring glory. Can he take that very next step? We will find out by the summer of 2015.