After all the trash talk that went on, the fight is off.
Injured in Final Sparring Session
British Heavyweight contender Dereck Chisora fractured his left hand on Friday while sparring with Alexander Ustinov, according to promoter Frank Warren. The injury forces Chisora to withdraw from his highly anticipated rematch and title eliminator bout against bitter rival Tyson Fury on Saturday at Manchester, England.
Warren also said that the fight card will go on as scheduled, with the co-featured bout between Billy Joe Saudners and Emanuel Blandamora for the European middleweight title being moved to the main event. He added that the Chisora-Fury bout will be rescheduled at a date and place that has yet to be determined.
Very Disappointed
Dereck Chisora ( 20-4, 13 knockouts) said that he was “very disappointed about pulling out from the fight”, but said that it was “upon the advice of his specialist” that he is making such a move. He adds that once he is given the go signal to punch and train, he will immediately work out the new date of the fight. In a statement, Chisora also apologized to the fans who will suerly miss the fight on Saturday. Chisora also stated that he was in “fantastic shape” and was having a “great training camp.” He said he was looking forward to get his revenge on Fury, and regrets that “it will have to wait”.
Fury had no immediate comment on the postponement of the fight.
Highly Anticipated Rematch
The rematch between Britain’s top heavyweight boxers was highly anticipated after their hyped 2011 bout where Fury dealt Chisora his first career loss en route to annexing the British and Commonwealth Heavyweight Boxing titles.
Chisora was then beaten by Heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko in 2012 and also lost to countryman David Haye later that year. But he has since won five consecutive bouts, including the February bout against Kevin Johnson where this rematch was sealed after both he and Fury won on the same fight card.
On the other hand, Fury was coming off a ten month layoff after his scheduled bout against David Haye was postponed twice and later cancelled after Haye suffered a career threatening shoulder injury in training. Now, on his second consecutive big fight in a row, the undefeated Tyson Fury ( 22-0, 16 knockouts) gets another postponement.
Tyson’s Fury
Meanwhile, the British Boxing Board of Control has formally started a misconduct hearing over Tyson Fury’s foul mouthed rants against Dereck Chisora in a recent promotional event at a London Theater. Fury remained defiant, saying that he “said what he had to say” and that “he can’t take it back even if he didn’t want to”. He also said that he doesn’t have to be a “good role model” to be a great boxer. However, he is set to appeal his case when the Board conducts it first hearing on August 13th.
It seems that Fury has another fight at hand while he awaits Chisora’s return, and it won’t be inside the ring.