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© Jane Warburton / Saddo Boxing
Tyson Fury believes that it’s a case of, once bitten twice shy for Derek “Del Boy” Chisora in the wake of Fury’s second round destruction of touted prospect Scott Belshaw on Saturday night.
Following on from victories for both men over the weekend Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessy has already tabled an offer to Chisora’s promoter for the two to clash in Wigan on June 13th live on ITV4 in a final eliminator for the British Heavyweight title (subject to Board approval).
Chisora was ringside at the Watford Colosseum on Saturday to watch Fury take apart Belshaw with a series of crushing body punches that underlined his status as one of the most exciting prospects to emerge in world boxing in recent years.
Less than 24 hours earlier Chisora had gone over old ground beating Paul Butlin for the second time in his career by labouring to a points win. The only talking point of the fight came in the fifth round when Chisora appeared to bite Butlin’s ear on the referee’s blind side.
No action was taken at the time and afterwards Chisora laughed the incident off but the TV evidence was enough to remind viewers of Mike Tyson’s infamous disqualification for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear back in 1997.
“We don’t need to see that kind of thing in boxing,” said Fury. “What kind of example does that set for kids when they see that kind of behaviour in the ring?
“The more I see of Chisora the more I think that he’s more Rodney than Del Boy! I said before the fight that he’s a plonker and he proved that on Friday night, it was disgraceful. Now I know what Chisora meant when he said recently that I was ‘the bottom of the food chain’, because I can guarantee you I’m the last man he wants a piece of.
“He’d be biting off more than he could chew getting in the ring with me and he knows it. ITV interviewed him after my win on Saturday night and I think everyone could see that he doesn’t want to know about a fight with me.
“He was already making excuses and he claimed not to know who Belshaw was. He knew all about him when Belshaw had him rolling around on the floor with body punches in sparring. If he can’t take Belshaw’s body punches, how is he going to take mine?”
Chisora is targeting a straight shot at British Champion, Danny Williams but Fury believes the Londoner should be made to earn the right to fight for the Lonsdale belt.
“After those antics on Friday I think it would be disgraceful if he got a straight shot at the British title. The British Heavyweight title is traditionally one of the most prestigious prizes in sport and even leaving aside his nibble against Butlin he simply hasn’t earned the right to fight for a Lonsdale belt.
“I think Robert Smith and the people at the British Boxing Board of Control should at the very least make him fight a final eliminator with me. Everyone is saying he should be punished for what he did on Friday night well I can guarantee that if he fights me I’ll dish out some severe punishment. The offer’s been made to him now so let’s hope he’s man enough to accept.”
Fury’s promoter Mick Hennessy believes that there is simply no comparison between his charge and Chisora.
“Tyson’s a real breath of fresh air for the sport,” said Hennessy. “None of these other so called top prospects in British boxing are willing to take on the kind of opposition that Tyson is and he’s younger than all of them.
“He’s just 20 years of age and has only been a pro since last December but if you look at his last two fights he’s taken on opponents with a combined record of 30 wins, 7 losses and a draw and he despatched both of them inside 5 minutes combined.
“Compare that to Chisora who is 25 and has already been a pro for well over 2 years now. His last two opponents had won less than half of their 55 fights between them and he still made hard work of them having to go the distance on both occasions.”
Hennessy says he has enough confidence in Fury to match him with anyone in Britain right now. “Tyson’s afraid of no one. I’ve been saying since he turned pro that we have a genuine heavyweight phenomenon on our hands and everyone is slowly beginning to realise that particularly the rest of the British heavyweights.”
Fury’s win over Belshaw was his sixth straight win since turning professional just last December. All of those wins have come inside the distance and Fury will keep up his busy schedule with his seventh pro fight in Wigan next month.
Fury will be part of the undercard to John Murray’s British Lightweight title defence against Scott Lawton at the Robin Park Arena on Saturday, June 13th.
The Hennessy Sports event will be live on ITV4 and joining Fury on the undercard will be his cousin Phill Fury (who made a successful pro debut on Saturday night), the return of Light Welterweight contender Nadeem Siddique, hot Featherweight prospect Steve “Super Bad” Barnes and exciting Canadian puncher Andrew Singh Kooner.
Tickets are available from the Ticketline box office on 0844 888 4402 or via www.ticketline.co.uk.
