Promoter shuns Tyson Fury protests as fans ask why not Dubois?

Promoter Frank Warren has leaped to the defense of Tyson Fury following a wave of negativity over a trilogy bout against Derek Chisora.

Fans took to social media in their droves to protest the fact Fury was fighting an opponent he’s not only beaten twice but defeated the second time badly.

Fears over Chisora’s health as Fury battered him over ten rounds in 2014 saw the “WAR” man pulled out of the fight.

Eight years later, Fury is a much better fighter and a more seasoned champion. Meanwhile, Chisora has lost a bunch of times and looked terrible in his last loss to Joseph Parker.

Frank Warren defends Tyson Fury

Warren defended Fury at the Thursday press conference when the media questioned why the fight was needed. This time, Warren reacted to a social media explosion of discord, which the Hall of Fame promoter attempted to play down.

“Regarding a few negative mutterings about the fact Tyson is facing Chisora for the third time,” said Warren in his column. “I won’t attempt to rewrite history and tell you this is the fight we wanted all along. It is not.

“We explored the Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight, but he declared he will not be ready until early next year.

Then Tyson made a very generous offer to Anthony Joshua. We all know what came of that, so I won’t go over old ground.”

Why is Tyson Fury fighting Derek Chisora again?

On why Chisora got chosen after Fury initially mentioned him last month, Warren used an unofficial and – at times, highly questionable rating system to name the former world title challenger as the next best option.

“With those two out of the equation, go through the BoxRec rankings. You will see that Derek is the best and most available option.

“We could have played a waiting game, but Tyson wants to fight. I guaranteed him that we would get a fight for him in December.

“This is good news for fans because he wants to be a busy champion and have this fight before taking on three fights next year.”

Why not Daniel Dubois?

Warren failed to see that it’s not about who is next in line, especially for the fans. Those rankings mean absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of the sport.

If he’s going to use any rankings, the WBC Ratings would have been the ones to go with, as Fury is their champion.

Fans want the most eye-catching fights available. Therefore, facing the WBC number-four-ranked juggernaut, Arslanbek Makhmudov would have been the best available contender.

But if Warren is going on availability, there’s a boxer in the co-feature who would have gone down better with fans.

Fury vs Dubois is a much more eye-catching fight on its own than the double-header put together for December.

Even so, Warren either believes Dubois isn’t ready or doesn’t want him to suffer another loss after Joe Joyce. But anyone rated from 11 to 18 in those same rankings Warren used would have been a better option than Chisora.

Nonetheless, fans are stuck with it unless something happens between now and fight night.

“Why couldn’t they make Fury vs Dubois? They’re both with the same promoter. Not to mention scheduled to fight on the same bill.

“New match up, Dubois is younger, hits hard, and has a [secondary] “title.” This is a rubbish PPV,” said one.

Another added: “Should’ve just had Dubois vs Fury.”

Fury vs Chisora tickets

Reporting that 50,000 plus tickets have been sold in 24 hours as 95% of sections appeared on resale sites, Warren is optimistic the event will be at capacity.

“Tyson has shown his superstar power again with a really healthy set of sales numbers yesterday. Over 50k tickets were sold, and we are on course for a sell-out,” he confirmed.

Despite that statement, Warren again urged fans to buy tickets in a repeating of the social media activity that hasn’t been on a loop since tickets went on sale.

“Anyone who wants a ticket to this heavyweight spectacular should get theirs ASAP. I can only see there being scraps left after this weekend.

“Tyson Fury will keep the heavyweight division moving. As fans, that is what we want.

“He is a global superstar of the sport, and we should make the most of opportunities to witness him in action while we can,” stated the Londoner.

From what WBN has witnessed, the vast majority of UK fans don’t want the fight. Some have vowed to boycott the Pay Per View on December 3rd.

Only time will tell if Warren and Fury can win those detractors around. Let’s hope Fury vs Usyk is made for Saudi Arabia between April and June next year to make up for it.

Fingers crossed.

The views expressed in this article are the opinions of Phil Jay.

WBN Editor Phil Jay has over ten years of boxing news experience. Follow WBN on Facebook @officialworldboxingnews, Instagram, and Twitter @worldboxingnews.