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In a massive UK clash last night at Wembley Arena in London, towering Tyson Fury took the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles from reigning champion Dereck Chisora.
Fury started off the contest looking to use his 6’9 height and big reach advantage to keep the much shorter Chisora at bay.
That approach lasted until the second round when Chisora landed a few big shots that had Fury in trouble for the first time in the 23 year old Manchester man’s career.
Fury managed to get through the trouble by holding and throwing just enough shots to keep the 27 year old Londoner from taking over.
By the fifth frame, the bout had settled into a familiar pattern of Chisora forgetting his jab and becoming inactive, content to mostly hold and telegraph his attempts at offense, which mainly consisted of wild swings that Fury could see coming.
The challenger was much busier, using the jab to set up a variety of punches both upstairs and down in a round winning strategy.
Chisora, who came in seventeen pounds heavier than he’d weighed in his two previous championship bouts, appeared exhausted by the extra luggage and constant wrestling, and was simply not doing enough to keep his titles.
With the exception of a burst of offense in the eighth and one in the tenth, Chisora was outboxed and outworked by Fury, who emerged victorious after 12 rounds, sweeping the cards118-111 and 117-112 twice.
Fury remains undefeated at 15-0 (10), while Chisora, 14-1 (9), suffers his first disappointment.
With the loss, it is unlikely that Chisora can revive his twice postponed shot at divisional champion Wladimir Klitschko. Fury has shown promise thus far but needs to face increasingly difficult opposition before attempting any bouts against world class competition.
The undercard saw British light welter champ Ashley Theophane, 30-4-1 (8), knock out former IBO and European lightweight king Jason Cook, 28-4-1 (14).
Cook turn back the clock to his glory days of 2002-2004, winning the first half of the bout with pressure to surprise the champion, who focused on a body attack that resulted in a point deduction in the fifth frame.
But the 36 year old challenger couldn’t maintain his grip as Theophane started to land with good shots that had Cook in deep water in the eighth.
Theophane continued to dominate the ninth, hurting Cook badly but the Welshman hung on, only to get knocked out by a body, head combination at 0:43 of the tenth.
