Undefeated Tyson Fury TKO?d Dereck Chisora, forcing his corner to throw in the towel at the end of round 10?
Saturday night at the ExCel Arena in London, England, Tyson Fury (23-0, 17 KOs), from Manchester, battered Dereck Chisora (20-5, 13 KOs), from London by way of Zimbabwe, forcing his corner to throw in the towel at the end of round 10.
Fighting out of the red corner in black trunks with gold trim, the undefeated Fury was too big (at 6?9 and 264 lbs.), too strong, too skilled and determined for his undersized, uninspired opponent.
Chisora, fighting out of the blue corner in black trunks trimmed in silver, fought as if he had no clue how to get past Fury?s jab. He ate punches from the opening bell. He ate punches like there was no tomorrow, perhaps a foreboding of his relevance as a credible contender.
The fight, a WBO heavyweight world title eliminator with the winner possibly earning a shot at Wladimir Klitschko, was painful to watch. To call it one-sided doesn?t do it justice.
One can?t question Chisora?s heart. His skills are another matter.
Del Boy?s trainer had to convince him to call it quits. The man is proud. He wanted to go out on his shield. But enduring two more rounds of punishment?two more rounds of watching his features mutate?with zero chance of winning?was more than his corner was willing to endure. Bleeding from his nose and mouth, one eye closed and the other closing fast, Del Boy was getting nailed by punches he no longer saw coming.
He was pummeled from pillar to post.
Chisora was heroic, too heroic for his own good, but Tyson Fury is the man to watch.
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In the co-main event, European middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders (21-0, 11 KOs), from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, UK, successfully defended his title by split decision victory over Chris Eubank Jr. (18-1, 13 KOs), from Brighton, Sussex. The controversial final scores were 115-114 twice for Saunders and 116-113 for Eubank Jr.
Fighting out of the blue corner in yellow trunks, Saunders, with his amateur pedigree and sanctioning body rankings, was expected to make short work of his opponent.
But Eubank has a pedigree of his own. Fighting out of the red corner in black trunks, with his famous father at hand, Eubank Jr. had come to fight, even if it was only in the second half of the bout.
After being outworked and outpunched for the first six rounds, the slow and moderately skilled Eubank took charge. More puncher than boxer, he muscled his way back into the fight and on our card managed to squeeze out a draw.
But the Eubank name, if not the Eubank attitude, is poison of a sort, and what came naturally to his old man feels threadbare and hand-me-down. Still, he brought it to the champ, forcing Saunders to dig deeper than he had ever had to dig before.
That the judges gave it Saunders, albeit by split decision, was no surprise. It could have gone either way. A bigger surprise was the quality of the fight, which while competitive was somewhat middling.
When it was over Eubank said, ?I?m ready for a rematch. It was close. I felt like I won most of the second half of the fight.?
I?d change that to the entire second half of the fight.
