Tyson Fury says he could “get chinned” in his British battle with Derek Chisora and questioned whether Oleksandr Usyk is a worthy opponent.
Fury went head to head with Chisora at their first press conference after their trilogy fight was announced for Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on December 3.
The bout against Chisora, whom Fury previously beat in 2011 and 2014, will represent his first fight since a routine sixth-round stoppage of another domestic rival, Dillian Whyte, in April.
“He comes and does exactly what it says on the tin – he goes to war,” Fury said about Chisora in their press conference to promote the fight. “He has changed his name from Del Boy to War and we’re going to get a war.
“I did outbox him comfortably the second time, but Chisora’s style has changed and so has mine! I used to be a tip-tap boxer on the back foot, jibbing and jabbing around the ring, but now I’m an HMS destroyer!
“When you’ve got two heavy forces colliding then someone is getting knocked out. If he lands a punch on me, a big swing, I’m getting knocked out. If I land a big swing on him then he’s getting knocked out, so the fans are going to win.”
Fury hopes to take on Usyk in a unification fight in the first part of next year, with the Ukrainian previously indicating he had no desire to fight before the New Year after following his win over Chisora in 2020 with back-to-back victories over Anthony Joshua.
“He [Chisora] done very well against Usyk,” Fury added. “And may I say, who the hell is Usyk? People didn’t know his name until he beat the bodybuilder the other day.
“He was a little, small heavyweight who wasn’t going to do anything against AJ when Chisora fought him. But then he stepped up and beat the big bodybuilder and now all of a sudden, he’s the killer. I don’t think so.
“Listen, I rate Derek Chisora as highly as I rate Usyk, and I will train as hard for Derek as I will for any man in the world. If I didn’t, I would have to be an absolute idiot – I will not underestimate Derek Chisora.
“God forbid I got beat, it won’t be for the fact that I had an injury or I didn’t train hard enough, it would be the fact that I lost to a better man on the night.
“We’re going to have a fight and that’s it. It’s going to be a good fight too, because he doesn’t shy away and I’m running nowhere, so someone is getting chinned.”
Fury’s best option
The clash comes after a collapse of negotiations for a prospective domestic showdown with Joshua earlier this month, with promoter Frank Warren insistent that this was the strongest fight on offer for Fury.
“It has been a nightmare,” Warren admitted. “Originally it was going to Usyk and then unfortunately after the fight, he said he wasn’t going to be ready until December, and that’s been pushed back to late February, early March. And then we tried for AJ and thought we were going to get it done, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case.
“No 1 was Usyk, I just told you, he’s out. No 2 was Joshua, didn’t want to know. Deontay Wilder, fought over the weekend, he’s not available. Andy Ruiz now looks like he’s fighting Wilder for the elimination. Dillian Whyte, he’s just beat Joe Joyce, he’s not going to be available because he’s just had a fight and he’s on holiday.
“Luis Ortiz, he got beaten a month ago. Joseph Parker got beaten by Joe Joyce. And the next one in the independent rankings is Derek Chisora. And the one after that is Pulev, who he knocked out.
“I think Tyson is head and shoulders over all the other heavyweights, whoever he’s in the ring with. Of course, he’s going to beat Derek Chisora, but I know Chisora is going to come to fight.” – Sky Sports
