Award-winning boxing journalist, Dan Rafael, has said that he is ‘not interested’ in Tyson Fury’s title defence against Derek Chisora.
Following negotiations between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua that may as well have all been for show, Fury landed on his old friend – or foe, depending on when you ask them – Derek Chisora as his chosen opponent for a December 3 fight in the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Speaking to Pro Boxing Fans, it’s clear that Rafael, who has covered boxing for USA Today and ESPN, respects the men involved, but isn’t onboard with the decision making.
“I appreciate Frank [Warren’s] position. I’m not anti-Frank Warren by any means. I like Frank, we’ve got along, I’ve known rank over 20 years. But Frank’s a promoter. His job is to sell the event. Obviously he’s going to say that this is a great fight and fans should embrace it and it was what they could get done.
But, no, I don’t think it’s a very good fight, I’m not interested in it to tell you the truth. I love Tyson Fury as a heavyweight champion, he’s a tremendous fighter, he’s a great personality. But he’s another guy that promised a lot and delivered a little.”
Moving on from Rafael’s own disappointment with the matchmaking for a minute, what of the 50, 60 thousand tickets reportedly bought on and around the first day of sale? The reporter is cynical.
“I don’t necessarily believe that 50,000 number. You go on any of the third party ticket sellers, you can find any number of tickets. Thousands of tickets that are available. It’s a fake sell out, in my opinion – and I’m not singling this fight out, there’s a lot of fights that the promoters love to hype up as sold out or huge crowds and huge swathes of the tickets are with third party brokers.”
Having covered some of the biggest fights of the last two decades, the veteran writer can be considered somewhat of an expert on the subject of what makes a good fight. Still, Chisora is adamant that he can upset the odds.
