By Jack Tiernan: Eddie Hearn has little chance of getting Deontay Wilder to fight Dereck ‘War’ Chisora, but he now has the option of matching him against Hughie Fury, the cousin of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Hughie’s promoter Ben Shalom of BOXXER, is interested in putting a fight together with the 38-year-old Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs), who is coming off his third consecutive loss on December 18th.
At this point, this might be as good as it gets for Chisora because Hearn’s hopeless dream of Deontay Wilder showing interest in fighting ‘War’ is slim and none. Chisora vs. Hughie will sell tickets and bring in the subscribers on DAZN.
After years of struggling off and on, the 6’6″ Hughie has suddenly shown massive improvements in his power and talent with recent victories over Mariusz Wach and Christian Hammer.
Hughie is looking much improved
It’s hard to believe how good Hughie has looked because he’s nothing like the fighter that struggled against Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin years ago.
Indeed, Hughie did a better job of beating Wach than Dillian Whyte did in 2019. Also, Hughie put in superior performance in stopping Hammer than the highly-hyped Frank Sanchez did recently.
Chisora is REFUSING to retire after getting beaten by Joseph Parker in their rematch last month at the Manchester Arena in Manchester, England.
However, Chisora’s refusal to hang up his gloves puts Hearn in a separation situation, needing to reach for famous fighters like Deontay in hopes of lassoing a big enough name to continue to draw crowds and bring in PPV buys for his fading fighter.
With 12 defeats on Chisora’s record, three of them consecutively, and with him nearing 40-years-old, Hearn is up against it trying to find top-tier heavyweights willing to fight him. It’s not that they’re worried about losing to Chisora.
It’s more of a case of there is nothing to gain from fighting the 40-ish British fighter, who hasn’t fought a fight in over two years since his victory over British domestic level heavyweight David Price in October 2019.
Chisora vs. Hughie would sell
“If Derek Chisora wants to bounce back with a bang? If he is still serious? For Hughie Fury, it is a good fight,” said promoter Shalom to Sky Sports.
“He will struggle to get the Deontay Wilder fight that has been spoken about. Hughie is the fight that makes sense for Chisora. If Chisora wins, it proves that he is still an elite British heavyweight.
“The fans want to see this – they love Derek, and they want to see Hughie tested. We have reached out again to Derek. We want the fight, Hughie wants it, Peter Fury wants it,” said Shalom.
The only problem with getting Chisora to agree to a fight with Hughie is that he likely realizes he would lose to the 27-year-old Fury.
Besides winning over the shopworn David Price, Chisora has always struggled against taller fighters during his career. Hughie would be a nightmare for him due to his range, movement, and surprisingly his newfound power.
“Hughie is someone that nobody wants to fight – he’s 27, awkward, and is a hard man to beat,” Shalom said. Now he has strength and experience as well.”
Besides the option of a fight with Chisora, Shalom is reaching out to former world champion Andy Ruiz Jr. and Chris Arreola for Hughie to fight.
Hughie’s recent improvements in his game may have ultimately worked against him, scaring away fighters like Chisora, Ruiz Jr., and Arreola.
Andy Ruiz Jr. isn’t about to take a risky fight against Hughie Fury because a loss would finish his dreams of getting a third massive payday against Anthony Joshua.