By Sean McDaniel: Unbeaten heavyweight Tyson Fury (11-0, 9 KO’s) put himself in position to fight the winner of the September 18th clash between BBBofC British heavyweight champion Derek Chisora (13-0, 8 KO’s) and Sam Sexton (13-1, 6 KO’s) by stopping John McDermott (25-7, 16 KO’s) in the 9th round last Saturday night in the British heavyweight title eliminator bout at the Brentwood Centre, Brentwood, Essex. Fury started off hot in the McDermott fight, landing powerful uppercuts and hooks to the head of McDermott.
After tiring in rounds four through seven, Fury got his second wind and dropped McDermott in the 8th and then sealed matters with another knockdown in the 9th round to get the stoppage. Fury looked good, despite dealing with problems due to high heat in the ring. Fury now is gunning for the Chisora vs. Sexton winner and plans on knocking out whoever he ends up facing. Right now, it’s probably going to be Chisora, because he already stopped Sexton in the 6th round in their previous bout in 2008.
However, you never know with Sexton. He’s an improving heavyweight and has accomplished a great deal in his two wins over Martin Rogan since the Chisora loss. Many boxing fans feel that the 6’1 1/2″ Chisora will have too much offensive skill and power for Fury to get by. I don’t buy that. I see the 6’7″ Fury badly exposing Chisora and showing how limited and small he is. Chisora and Sexton are both medium sized heavyweights in the 6’1″ to 6’2″ range, and neither of them possess what you can call huge power.
Chisora is more of the type of fighter that needs to bludgeon his opponent’s into submission by getting close and beating them down over the course of the fight. He doesn’t have power like the Klitschkos or David Haye. He’s someone that needs to be allowed to get in close and work for extended amounts of time to produce his knockouts. Fury showed good ring movement in his win over McDermott, and didn’t just stand there and allow the 6’3″ McDermott to land his shots.
This is why McDermott landed very punches in the fight other than an occasional shot. Fury was the one that was landing for most of the bout. When he wasn’t tagging McDermott with powerful uppercuts and right hands, he was tying him up on the inside and blasting away with hard flurries in close. Fury did a little bit of everything in his win over McDermott – fighting on the outside with his jab and looping right hands, and then coming inside and blasting away at McDermott with powerful short punches to the head and body.
Fury isn’t going to just stand in front of Sexton and Chisora all night long and play to their limited strengths. He’s going to be moving, changing his tactics constantly to keep both of them guessing what he’ll do next. With his super long reach and good power, I see Fury surprisingly dominating both Sexton and Chisora and likely scoring a knockout.
Chisora really hasn’t fought anyone other than an old shopworn Danny Williams and Sexton, who looked badly intimated in his early fight with Chisora. Fury has a better chin than Williams, and won’t fold quickly like he did. Fury also won’t fight scared and give Chisora the advantage. Once Chisora realizes that he’s bit off more than he can chew, I expect him to fold up and either get dominated or stopped by Fury.
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