Frank Warren exclusive on Fury vs Chisora
Frank Warren has worked with some of the biggest attractions in boxing history. Crowds would stop traffic and camp outside hotels whenever Mike Tyson was in town.
Ricky Hatton captured the imagination of his hometown and then his country before leading an exodus to Las Vegas and Naseem Hamed’s antics and knockout power brought a new audience to the sport and he filled arenas in Britain before successfully taking his act to America.
Tyson Fury was already a huge star in Britain before his stunning trilogy with Deontay Wilder also made him a household name in America.
This year, Fury’s profile has exploded. After packing Wembley to the rafters for his stoppage of Dillian Whyte in April, around 60,000 fans are expected at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday for the heavyweight champion’s WBC title defence against Derek Chisora. For the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.
“Tyson Fury is a real man of the people”
“He’s sold all these tickets and he’s got his Netflix series which is coming out. He’s got a book which just went to number one last week – that’s his third book to do that – and he does these tours which sell out everywhere too,” Warren told 32Red. “It’s just unbelievable. Another thing I like which goes under the radar is his work with mental health. He’s a real man of the people and at one point he was the man who nobody wanted to know. We’ve worked very hard.
“He ended up selling those tickets at Wembley on his own, without Dillian Whyte and he did it in two and a half hours. Now he’s sold 58 thousand tickets this weekend so far.”
The sheer number of people willing to brave a cold December night to watch Fury fight is even more remarkable considering that if you were to have held a poll on who Fury should face after his stoppage of Whyte, Chisora’s name wouldn’t have featured as a write in candidate on any ballot sheets.
Oleksandr Usyk’s decision to take a break after his rematch victory over Anthony Joshua rather than jump right into a heavyweight unification battle forced Fury’s team to quickly rethink their plans. Joshua himself became the focus of their attention but after weeks of public negotiations, the fight still seems as far away today as ever.
Fury realised he needed to stay sharp ahead of a massive 2023 and needed to fight. Derek Chisora is popular with British fans, likes a payday and was never going to refuse an unexpected trilogy fight with the heavyweight champion. A deal was quickly put together.
“What else is Derek gonna do? He’s got to come and fight”
“I think the only way Chisora can win is to knock him out and to do that he’s gotta take the fight to Tyson. In their first fight Chisora came in overweight but in the second fight I thought Tyson was magnificent. He did a job on him. I pulled Derek out, he had an eye injury and he was getting a belting.
“Whats changed since? Well, Tyson has changed his style. He does rely on his speed and reflexes but he’ll say not as much now because he has been standing and trading with people more. I think he will stand and trade and can blast him out. I think it’ll be entertaining because it will be a fight. What else is Derek gonna do? He’s got to come and fight.
“Hopefully Tyson comes through and we can get the big one on with Usyk at the end of February or later next year. Tyson has told us that he wants to be busy next year. That’s not a problem for us. He has to get Chisora out of the way and we can go from there.”
Usyk will be in attendance on Saturday night. The aim will be to begin drumming up interest and conversation around what would be a monumental battle for heavyweight supremacy. As always, there remains a bit of boxing politics to negotiate. The IBF have called for Usyk to defend his title against their number one ranked fighter, Filip Hrgovic. The man supposedly in pole position for a crack at Usyk, however, is WBA Regular champion, Daniel Dubois.
“Daniel Dubois’s got to win this fight”
Dubois’ fight with South Africa’s Kevin Lerena is the main supporting act on Saturday night. With the eyes of the world on London, it is a perfect opportunity for 32Red ambassador, Dubois, to display the devastating power he possesses. Dubois has rebounded admirably from his sole defeat to Joe Joyce – a performance that has aged well considering ‘The Juggernaut’s’ recent form – and can cement his position as one of the most exciting and explosive young fighters in the division this weekend.
“Lerena is a decent fighter. The governing bodies rotate their mandatory challengers and on the list, the WBA is next, not the IBF. More importantly for Daniel though, he’s gotta win this fight,” Warren said. “He’s fighting a southpaw. Larena was a cruiserweight so he’s not slow. He’s got a bit of speed and he’s had a few fights at heavyweight now. As we know there are plenty of cruiserweights who have come up to heavyweight and done the business. You only have to look at Usyk and David Haye.
“This is another step up for Daniel. It’s a great chance to perform on a massive stage. This guy will come to fight but I just feel Daniel will be a bit too big and have too much power for him. I think it’ll be a really good heavyweight fight.
“It’s gonna be a good night. Usyk will be there on the night to watch everything and Artur Beterbiev is coming over too and we’ll do a press conference for his fight with Anthony Yarde in January.”
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