WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury has revealed that his upcoming fight with Derek Chisora wasn’t the original plan and that Mahmoud (formerly Manuel) Charr was ready to ‘rock and roll’.
It looked likely at one point that Fury would be taking on Charr for his return to the ring instead of ‘WAR’ Chisora.
During BT Sport’s in-camp documentary, Fury said it was the ‘negative’ reaction to a potential Charr fight that made them look elsewhere.
“There was Manuel Charr, he was ready to rock and roll and then there was a lot of negative stuff about Manuel Charr. So we thought, you know what, Chisora has just beat Kubrat Pulev, he is a top ten ranked opponent, let’s do the trilogy with Derek. We went back and talked a little bit more money with Derek and we finally got it over the line.”
Whilst Fury may have believed to have been looking out for his fans by fighting a fellow Brit who is ranked as a top ten heavyweight on BoxRec, many see it instead as ‘The Gypsy King’ choosing to fight a close friend who he has beaten twice before. Disappointment was rife, especially when it looked like a mega fight with Anthony Joshua was on the cards.
‘They Gypsy King’ continues to protest that 38-year-old Chisora is as tough an opponent now as he ever was, and that this fight is not as straightforward as many fans are making it out to be.
Chisora, to his credit, is coming off a career best victory over Kubrat Pulev and gave Oleksandr Usyk perhaps his toughest test at heavyweight. So, although a heavy underdog going in, the clash does still offer some intrigue.
The fight is this Saturday and is available to purchase on BT Sport Box Office for a fee of £26.95 and features the heavyweight clash between Daniel Dubois and Kevin Lerena on the undercard.