Tyson Fury has promised fans his bout with Derek Chisora will see him put in the same amount of danger as if he faced Oleksandr Usyk in an undisputed clash.
Fury holds the WBC heavyweight title, and is considered by fans to be the 'lineal' champion of the division, while Usyk has the WBA super, WBO and IBF belts, as well as The Ring magazine title and the less prestigious IBO strap. The pair look set to do battle next year for all of the gold, but the Brit has insisted on taking a fight with Chisora to stay busy before year's end.
And despite having comfortably beaten Chisora twice already in his earlier career, Fury has told fans that they should expect him to be equally challenged in the domestic bust-up. They first fought in 2011 for the British title when they were both undefeated, with Fury winning by unanimous decision before stopping his rival in their 2014 rematch.
"In my opinion Chisora at least got a draw with Usyk," Fury told Seconds Out. "So I see Chisora every bit as dangerous as Usyk - I don't know if you've seen that fight with Usyk and Derek, it was a very good fight, very close and I thought that Chisora deserved the draw, minimum. I think Usyk's manager had it a draw as well - so Chisora is no pushover. If you're not on your A game Derek will beat you to f***."
The pair appeared to have become friends over the past few years, but that all went by the wayside when Chisora picked Dillian Whyte to beat Fury in his homecoming fight at Wembley Stadium earlier this year. They have since gone back-and-forth, with Chisora branding Fury as having "bipolar" when the fight was initially offered.
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Talks initially progressed well over a prospective fight at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff between Fury and long-time rival Anthony Joshua, who has the same management team as Chisora, on the December 3 date. But the contract couldn't be ironed out in time and Fury is now set to face his old enemy once more in the second trilogy of his professional career.
“The guy is bi-polar bro, that’s all I can say,” Chisora told Mirror Fighting last month. “He doesn’t know what he wants to do. We will see him fight again, but I don’t know if it will be against me. The Saudis have a two-fight deal with AJ, Usyk and Fury. This and then the winner fights Fury for undisputed."
It was believed Chisora was offered a £2million purse for the initial date, although Fury had gone about making the deal through strange channels. He is signed to Queensberry Promotions, but it was Goldstar Promotions, who put on his speaking engagements, that sent the initial contract, which was rejected by Chisora's team at 258 Management.
