Chisora vs. Fury II: Preview of Saturday’s ‘Bad Blood’ event

This Saturday night at London’s ExCel Arena, a big heavyweight clash takes place. The event is billed as ‘Bad Blood’

In the main event, undefeated Tyson Fury, 22-0 (KO 16 KO% 72.73) is ready and prepared to take on Dereck ‘Del Boy’ Chisora, as the pair lock horns for the second time.

Dereck Chisora, 20-4 (KO 13 KO% 54.17) was set to take on Fury this July but broke his hand in his final sparring session on the fight week itself. Unfortunate as it was, these things can and will happen. Alexander Ustinov was drafted in as a replacement for Chisora to face Fury.

A family member of Tyson Fury’s (his uncle Hughie, brother of other uncle and Tyson’s trainer, Peter Fury) was taken seriously ill three days before the fight with Ustinov. Sadly Hughie Fury has since passed away due to his illness.

Tyson Fury’s trainer and uncle, Peter Fury, pulled Tyson out of the scheduled bout with Ustinov, on the day of the fight. Peter Fury was concerned for Tyson’s health going into the fight, with his mind not fully on the job.

With the unfortunate events out of the way, the rematch was finally penciled in for November 29th, in London this time, instead of Manchester.

Fury and Chisora fought back in 2011 for the British and Commonwealth titles. Chisora came into the bout seriously out of shape, as did Fury, but Fury was the fitter of the two big men at the time and Tyson Fury cruised to a unanimous decision victory on the scorecards.

The scores after the bout had been contested.
Judge: Ian John-Lewis 117-112 | Judge: Phil Edwards 117-112 | Judge: Richard James Davies 118-111.

With both men going their own paths, for whatever reason, they have ended up back facing one another again. This time the winner gets a shot at Wladimir Klitschko, as this bout is a final eliminator for the WBO heavyweight world title, held by Klitschko — a huge incentive for both Fury and Chisora.

You would have to lean towards Tyson Fury in this bout. Fury is undefeated, the taller man, has longer reach, weighs slightly more, is younger and obviously has the previous win over ‘Del Boy.’ Chisora has been much more active as of late though.

Fury has had the disappointing pull outs from two scheduled fights with David Haye, which have thrown his career off track and as a result he has just fought on one occasion over the past year and a half. Ring rust could be an issue early in the fight.

Both men have sharpened up significantly since they met back in 2011. Fury is now in great shape, as is Chisora. Dereck Chisora has said the match won’t got twelve rounds and he will knock Fury out. Tyson Fury has pretty much said the same.

It should be an exciting fight with a shot at Wladimir Klitschko for the victor, both men will be very eager to come out of the contest with their hand held aloft. I would personally prefer Fury to win as I think he would give ‘Dr. Steel Hammer’ a better run for his money than Chisora, who is just not big enough to compete with the 6’6 tall Klitschko.

The chief support to the heavyweight clash is a mouth watering middleweight battle, between former Olympian, Billy Joe Saunders, and his fierce rival, Chris Eubank Jr. The winner is guaranteed a shot at the winner of the WBO world middleweight title bout between Ireland’s Andy Lee and Russian fighter, Matt Korobov.

Many fans are far more interested in this match up than the main event itself.

There has been a lot of back and forth from the pair leading up to this fight, mainly from Billy Joe Saunders, antagonizing Eubank Jr. to face him. Fight fans wanted Saunders to knock out Eubank Jr. for his posing and somewhat cocky attitude after he wins his fights. It’s all boxing though, it’s just showcasing yourself and making a name, trying to step out of the shadow cast by his father certainly can’t be easy for Eubank Jr.

Billy Joe Saunders, 20-0 (KO 11 KO% 55.00) who is a Romany Gypsy, was a highly decorated amateur. Saunders is desperate to beat his friend and fellow gypsy, Tyson Fury, into becoming the first gypsy boxing world champion.

Chris Eubank Jr, 18-0 (KO 13 KO% 72.22) had some excellent achievements in a short space of time, while fighting his amateur days out in America, having been sent there by his father, former world champion Chris Eubank Sr.

Both fighters have great skills and are just really starting to get warmed up in their careers.

Billy Joe Saunders refused a shot at the WBO middleweight title to face Eubank Jr. instead. Saunders clearly wants to prove he is the better fighter and the better man, which is a big thing with the traveling community.

Eubank Jr. was quoted as calling Billy Joe Saunders, “Average Joe.” This clearly got under the skin of Saunders and he went on a verbal tirade to get the fight made. As the British, Commonwealth and now European champion, it should probably have been Eubank Jr. who was calling out Saunders, but this is boxing, these things happen from time to time.

Saunders thinks he is doing the public a favour, by taking on and defeating the young upstart that is Eubank Jr. Chris Eubank Sr. has said he thinks his son will be “better than Mayweather.” No pressure on Chris Jr. then from Chris Sr?

With Saunders facing tougher opposition and going the championship rounds in twelve round bouts, it certainly seems the advantage of the big fights lies with Saunders. The thing is though, Eubank Jr. is an untested prospect at any real level and has only fought in one ten round contest. Eubank Jr’s bouts have largely been against journeymen fighters, but Chris Eubank Jr. is very talented indeed.

The main thing with this situation, Chris Eubank Sr, is a very smart man and for me, he would not put his son in against someone he knew he couldn’t beat, even at this stage. An undefeated fighter is a big marketing thing nowadays, people are either drawn to you due to your talent and undefeated record, or they want to see you get knocked out. Both sell tickets and garner big interest.

It’s honestly a 50/50 ‘pick em’ fight. I am struggling to pick a winner.

I have to lean towards Saunders on experience, but if Eubank Jr. wins, I would not be surprised at all.

It really is a cracking contest.

There are a total of thirteen bouts on this card. Yes THIRTEEN! A feast for all fight fans.

The action gets under way at 16:00 hours. 4pm UK time.
The bouts:

Fight #1 – 16:00 hrs 8 X 3 Minute Rounds International Heavyweight Contest
EDDIE CHAMBERS vs. DORIAN DARCH.

Fight #2 – 8 X 3 Minute Rounds Welterweight Contest
AHMET PATTERSON vs. SULLIVAN MASON.

Fight #3 – 6 X 3 Minute Rounds Super-Featherweight Contest
ROMEO ROMAEO vs. ISMAIL ANWAR.

Fight #4 – 4 X 3 Minute Rounds Welterweight Contest
MACAULAY McGOWAN vs. FONZ ALEXANDER.

Fight #5 – THE WBA INTERNATIONAL SUPER-BANTAMWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP 12 X 3 Minute Rounds at 8st 10lbs (122lbs)
LEWIS PETTITT vs. SANTIAGO ALLIONE.

Fight #6 – 19:05 hrs THE BRITISH AND COMMONWEALTH SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP 12 X 3 Minute Rounds 9st 4lbs (130lbs)
LIAM WALSH vs. GARY SYKES.

Fight #7 – THE VACANT WBO EUROPEAN SUPER-MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIOPNSHIP 10 X 3 Minute Rounds at 12st (168lbs)
FRANK BUGLIONI vs. ANDREW ROBINSON.

Fight #8 – THE VACANT WBO EUROPEAN SUPER-FEATHERWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP 10 X 3 Minute Rounds at 9st 4lbs (130lbs)
MITCHELL SMITH vs. ZOLTAN KOVACS.

Fight # 9 – THE BRITISH AND VACANT COMMONWEALTH WELTERWEIGHT CHAMPIONBSHIP 12 X 3 Minute Rounds at 10st 7lbs (147lbs)
FRANKIE GAVIN vs. BRADLEY SKEETE.

Fight #10 – THE BRITISH, EUROPEAN AND COMMONWEALTH MIDDLEWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIPS 12 X 3 Minute Rounds at 11st 6lbs (160lbs)
BILLY JOE SAUNDERS vs. CHRIS EUBANK JUNIOR.

Fight #11 – 4 X 3 Minute Rounds Light-Middleweight Contest
GEORGIE KEAN vs. KEVIN McCAULEY.

Fight #12 – THE EUROPEAN AND VACANT BRITISH HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP ELIMINATOR FOR THE WBO WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP 12 X 3 Minute Rounds
DERECK CHISORA vs. TYSON FURY.

Fight #13 – (Floater # 2) 4 X 3 Minute Rounds International Cruiserweight Contest
STEVE COLLINS JNR. vs. MAREKS KOVALEVSKIS.

The picks from the long under card for me, would be Liam Walsh vs. Gary Sykesa a great fight on paper.

Frankie Gavin vs. Bradley Skeete will certainly be interesting to see what Gavin does after his defeat to Leonard Bundu last time out.

Romeo Romaeo is a very, very talented kid indeed, watch out for this young man. He has supreme skills and agility, very reminiscent of ‘Prince’ Naseem Hamed.

There are a lot of very closely contested fights on this card. It really is an excellent seven or eight hours of boxing.

The event is televised live on BoxNation.