By Nate Anderson: Heavyweight Tyson Fury (6-0, 6 KOs) put on an impressive punching display on Saturday night, stopping 6’7” Scott Belshaw in the 2nd round at the Colosseum, in Watford, Hertfordshire. In the process of beating Belshaw, Fury dropped him twice in the 1st round from powerful body shots.
In the 2nd, Fury finished Belshaw off with a left to the body that doubled Belshaw over in pain, making him momentarily defenseless and at Fury’s mercy for a parting shot. Fury withheld the urge to blast Belshaw with a finishing right hand and let the referee Dave Parris step in and stop the one-sided bout.
After the fight, Fury seemed keen on getting a shot at heavyweight Derek Chisora, saying that he would knock him out even quicker than he did Belshaw. Chisora would be an excellent choice for Fury right now, because Fury is clearly too good for the 3rd tier opposition that they’ve been putting him in with and he really needs a step up in class so that he can continue to get something out of these fights.
Chisora defeated Paul Butlin by an 8-round decision on Friday night. Chisora looked good in the fight except for when he decided to bite Butlin on the left ear in the 5th for some reason. The bit wasn’t penalized by the referee, who should have disqualified Chisora as soon as Butlin complained about the bite.
On replay, it was clear that Chisora had indeed bitten Butlin on the ear. What’s unknown about this incident is what’s going to happen with Chisora by the British Boxing board. Mike Tyson previously was involved with an ear-biting incident in a fight with Evander Holyfield and Tyson ended up getting in all kinds of trouble over the issue.
Perhaps it’s a different story in England, although I don’t why it should. If Chisora is able to get away without being suspended, then he might be a good option for Fury to fight next. Fury is scheduled to fight on June 13th at the Robin Park Centre, in Wigan, Lancashire.
It might be a little too soon for Chisora, who just finished fighting an eight round bout on Friday night and took some shots from Butlin during the fight. It wasn’t that hard of a fight for Chisora, and he was able to escape without being cut or pushed all that hard for Butlin. However, it’s doubtful that Chisora’s management will want to send him out so soon against a fighter as big and as good as the 6’9” Fury.
Aside from Chisora, there’s also new heavyweight Commonwealth champion Sam Sexton for Fury to fight. It wouldn’t be an easy fight for Fury to set up, though, because Sexton has said that he wants to go after bigger fights like a bout against British heavyweight champion Danny Williams or a rematch with Chisora, who took Sexton out last year in a 6th round stoppage.
At 6’3,” Sexton would look teeny next to Fury and would have problems with Tyson’s long reach. Sexton used his jab and a lot of movement to give the 6’2” Martin Rogan problems in his 8th round stoppage win over him last week, but the jabs would be much less effective against the much taller Fury, who likes to lean away from punches and use his long arms to jab.
At best, I can see Sexton going the distance with Fury, and losing by a lopsided decision. However, it would be a punishing bout for Sexton, as he would take a lot of punishment from Fury’s left hooks to the midsection and rights to the head.
Martin Rogan, the former Commonwealth champion, is probably out of the picture for Fury, because Rogan is still recovering from all the punishment that he absorbed in the Sexton bout. Also, Rogan is looking to try and avenge his defeat from Sexton, and the last thing that Rogan needs right now is to take on a young knockout artist like Fury.
Perhaps at some point in the future Rogan might be an option if he can recapture his Commonwealth title, but that’s still kind of a shaky thing given Sexton’s impressive performance against him.
Comments are closed.