Tyson Fury pummels Derek Chisora and sets his sights on Oleksandr Usyk
The Briton stayed on course for a unification showdown with the reigning IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA holder.
Tyson Fury defended his WBC heavyweight world title with a comprehensive victory over old rival Derek Chisora
Fury stayed on course for a unification showdown with reigning IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA holder Oleksandr Usyk, who was ringside at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, after pummelling Chisora into a 10th-round stoppage.
The 34-year-old Morecambe fighter should now get his crack at Ukrainian Usyk, and a shot at becoming the first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis, some time in the spring.
Chisora was brought in for a third bout with Fury after proposed fights with Usyk, who has been taking a break from boxing, or British rival Anthony Joshua failed to materialise.
Fury had comfortably beaten Chisora on points in 2011 and again in 2014, also via a 10th-round stoppage.
Chisora, after all, had lost seven of his 20 fights since that second defeat to Fury and turns 39 later this month.
The event was not a sell-out but nevertheless almost 60,000 hardy souls braved the icy December weather to be in attendance.
When the action got under way a punishing body shot momentarily left Chisora gasping for breath, and in the second round Fury began finding his target with more frequency.
Chisora gestured that he was not concerned by the onslaught but he was clearly struggling with Fury’s power – as he had in the previous two meetings.
Such was Fury’s dominance he was able to switch stance from southpaw to orthodox and back again, with Chisora having no answer to the blows raining down on him.
By the ninth round the punishment was really starting to tell, a weary Chisora sporting a bad cut under an eye and spitting blood.
He went out on his shield, though, with referee Victor Loughlin putting Chisora out of his misery in the 10th.
“He’s an absolute warrior,” said Fury afterwards. “A British warrior. We’ve had three epic fights and he’s a tough man. He stood up to every shot and was calling me a b***h in there.”
For Fury it was victory number 33 of his undefeated career, and number34 is set to be the one that defines him.
Earlier Greenwich’s Daniel Dubois, 25, recovered from being floored in the first round to defend his WBA regular heavyweight title with a third-round TKO against South African Kevin Lerena.
