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Tyson Fury may have his next fight just about set, as ESPN.com’s Mike Coppinger reports that Fury and Derek Chisora are finalizing a deal for a third bout on Dec. 3.
Coppinger’s report says that Fury and Chisora have been negotiating for three weeks, putting into question whether Fury ever had any real intention of signing a deal to fight Anthony Joshua on Dec. 3. Fury had publicly offered Joshua a 60-40 deal, then imposed his own deadlines despite Joshua saying he intended to accept, and negotiations between promoters broke off in late September.
Prior to all that, talks of a third Fury vs Chisora bout had come up in early August, and Fury had said well before that that he intended to face Chisora again before he retired from boxing, which tends to come about once per year.
Fury (32-0-1, 23 KO) still has the WBC heavyweight title despite again announcing he was retired after his April win over Dillian Whyte. Talks for Fury vs Chisora 3 reportedly broke off not long after they were reported in August, but we’re back to it now, it seems.
The 38-year-old Chisora (33-12, 23 KO) is a heavyweight gatekeeper, but is coming off of a solid win over Kubrat Pulev on July 9. Over his long and winding career in the sport, Chisora has gone from being seen as controversial and something of a villain to a genuine fan favorite in the United Kingdom, and he does still sell tickets.
But he’s already fought and lost to Fury twice, first in a 2011 fight for the British and Commonwealth titles, and then in a 2014 rematch for the British and European titles. Neither fight was exactly competitive, and doesn’t figure to be now.
Chisora’s one and only world title shot to date came in 2012, when he went 12 rounds but lost nearly all of them to Vitali Klitschko in Munich, Germany, for Klitschko’s WBC belt.