By Jack Tiernan: ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury revealed that he’s going to need right elbow surgery following his 10th-round TKO victory over Derek Chisora on Saturday night, which could result in his unification bout with IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksander Usyk being delayed.
Just how long Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) will be out of the ring is unknown at this point, but however long it will take, Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) will need to wait if he wants this fight.
If the delay is too long, Usyk will probably need to take a tune-up because he’s already been out of the ring since August.
“I’ve got to maybe have surgery on my right elbow,” said Fury to ESPN after his win over Chisora. “I had the left one done, so I’ve got to have it done. It will take about six-to-eight weeks to heal. We’ll see when we can be ready for this fight.”
Should Fury have been penalized?
Fury got away with borderline cheating against the 38-year-old Chisora (33-13, 24 KOs) with his repeated clinching & leaning all his weight on him on Saturday night in their trilogy fight at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London.
Holding is part of boxing, but when it becomes flagrant like Fury was doing tonight, it’s supposed to result in the referee warning, penalizing, and, if need be, disqualifying.
Given how Fury’s holding & leaning played such a huge impact on the fight, he should have been, at the very least, penalized one or two points. Instead, the referee did nothing about it, allowing Fury to game the system with his borderline cheating.
Also, Fury’s trunks were pulled up high, narrowing the area of his midsection that Chisora could target. Ultimately, it probably had no bearing in the outcome of the fight compared to Fury’s excessive clinching, but when you have a fighter with their trunks pulled up to their ribcage, the referee is supposed to address that to make it a fair fight.
Chisora was so woefully bad tonight that it wouldn’t have mattered if the referee did stop Fury from clinching excessively and having his trunks pulled up to his navel, but still.
You’d like an even playing field, especially when you’re a journeyman coming into the fight with a 1-3 record in your last four fights like Chisora.