Chisora slams WBC for promising to rank Paul if he beats Tommy Fury

EXCLUSIVE: ‘If that happens, every fighter should DROP their belts’: Dereck Chisora slams the WBC for promising to rank Jake Paul if he beats Tommy Fury… but claims the Brit’s career would NOT be over should he suffer a shock defeat

• Dereck Chisora has taken a swipe at the WBC for promising Jake Paul a ranking 
• He urged fighters to boycott them if Paul is recognised by beating Tommy Fury
• Chisora is backing Fury but insists his career is not finished if he loses to Paul 

Dereck Chisora has hit out at the WBC for promising to place Jake Paul in their cruiserweight rankings if he beats Tommy Fury on Sunday – telling fighters to ‘drop their belts’ if the organisation come through on their promise. 

Fury and Paul will put an end to their bitter rivalry in Saudi Arabia this weekend – live on BT Sport Box Office – with the YouTuber having the added incentive of being recognised as a professional fighter should he pull off a shock win against his rival.

Speaking exclusively to Sportsmail, Chisora – who is playing a key role in the promotion for this fight – couldn’t hide his frustration that Paul – who has never fought a professional boxer before facing Fury – has been offered a placed in the WBC’s cruiserweight top 40 as a prize for winning. 

‘Del Boy’ says it would be an insult to the many fighters who have grinded and worked hard for recognition during their careers – urging them to boycott the WBC if they rank Paul. 

‘Do you know what, if he gets a ranking with the WBC, I personally think everybody in the WBC should come out of the rankings and be in another federation,’ he said. 

Dereck Chisora is unhappy Jake Paul has been promised a WBC ranking if he beats Tommy Fury

‘Del Boy’ urged every fighter in the organisation to ‘drop their belts’ if WBC honour the promise

‘Everyone should just drop the WBC and say, “I’m not fighting for it anymore”. That’s not fair. There’s other boxers who have been slaving themselves, making weight, fighting and because he’s boxed two fighters they give him a WBC ranking? No, it’s unfair. 

‘If they do that, I urge everyone in the WBC rankings – drop the belts, who cares? Belts do not pay the bills for most fighters. As Mike Tyson says, it’s garbage. Most of it is garbage to be honest with you. 

Paul was also promised a ranking if he beat Hasim Rahman Jr before that fight was called off last year – and the WBC’s stance has been met with stern opposition. Promoter Eddie Hearn said the match-up was a ‘good fight’ but claimed Paul didn’t deserve to be ranked.

The American – who is unbeaten in his professional career so far with six straight wins – has laid out ambitious plans to compete for a world title one day many are waiting for him to fail. 

Paul is growing with confidence ahead of his grudge match with Fury in Saudi Arabia 

The American is undefeated in six fights and floored ex-UFC star Anderson Silva last time out

As a self-proclaimed ‘Disney kid’ who started on the children’s station before moving into YouTube, his unlikely rise into boxing has captivated fans – while plenty others are expecting him to be knocked out soon, and his clash against bitter rival Fury will be his biggest test yet. 

Yet Paul is growing more and more confident after an explosive knockout of former UFC star Tyron Woodley before downing former UFC world champion Anderson Silva and beating him via unanimous decision. A victory over Fury now doesn’t seem as unlikely as it once did. 

So, would defeat against a YouTuber be a humiliating end to Fury’s career? His dad John has said as much on multiple occasions – stressing that there will be ‘no more boxing’ for the former Love Island star if he can’t beat someone this inexperienced. 

But Chisora doesn’t agree. He feels a loss should not be treated with a knee-jerk reaction and that Fury should go again if he does fall to Paul – but stressed that he is backing the brother of his former nemesis Tyson to emerge victorious. 

‘No, why?’ he said when asked if defeat meant retirement for Fury.

While Fury has been backed to overcome Paul, Chisora (C) doesn’t think his career would be over if he suffered a shock defeat 

‘That’s his dad [who said that]. Listen, as a dad myself – I’m a dad to two girls – if I have a boy and he loses a fight in the playground, I’ll send him back again to fight! 

‘It’s only a fight. A loss is a loss, a win is a win. If he wins – “wow, he was supposed to beat him”. If he loses – “you got beat by a YouTuber”. He’s at a crossroads. 

‘I’m favouring the Brit, I’m not favouring Jake Paul. Tommy Fury is British, he was born 200 miles away from my house, so I favour him. I don’t favour the American. I like Jake Paul, cool, but let’s be honest – this is country versus country. We have to support our own right now. I want Tommy to win it – that’s all.’

There is a lot of unknown for this fight, set to take place in Diriyah. Neither fighter has ever lost, but arguably neither fighter has faced an opponent of this quality. Certainly, neither has ever fought in a fight as high profile as this.

Chisora is in the dark too – but cannot see it going the distance and feels a fast-paced first round should set the tone for the fight.  

‘I don’t know [how it will go] because I’ve never seen Tommy fight,’ he says. ‘He had an exhibition fight in Dubai on Floyd Mayweather’s undercard and he looked OK. 

Fury’s father John (L) told the fighter he would retire him if he failed to see off the YouTuber 

‘I think it’s the biggest test for both fighters. For Tommy, for Jake, it’s a big deal. We’ve got the WBC for the cruiserweight undercard, so it’s going to be an amazing card. 

‘Somebody is getting knocked out. They’ve both got the edge. We will know in the first round who is going to win the fight. Whoever gets hit hardest in the first round is going to fold. Neither of these fighters have ever been hit before.’ 

The biggest question mark is over Paul and how he’ll fare against Fury – who has been trained by his brother Tyson and dad John, who will both be in his corner on Sunday night. 

No matter his doubters and what performance he ends up producing, Chisora can see the American is improving with every fight and feels he will still be a ‘headache’ for his opponents in the future. 

‘Can I see Jake improving? Yes,’ he adds. ‘I can see him causing a headache for loads of professional fighters. From what I’m hearing, he will go to other countries and train with amateurs, he travels the world just trying to learn the art of boxing, so good luck to him.’

Chisora cannot see the fight going the distance and is backing Fury to get the job done 

He opened the door to an exhibition against Paul in the future as his career draws to a close

What about Chisora getting in the ring with Paul? ‘Del Boy’ is getting towards the end of his career – and while he vowed not to retire after losing to Tyson Fury in December, he knows he will soon be approaching the point where the gloves come off for good – but exhibitions might be on the cards, so long as the offer is right. 

‘What’s the money like?’ he said when asked if he’d face Paul. ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. Anyone would do it. It’s called entertainment. Beyonce and Jay Z put on shows at Wembley and they sell out. If you’ve got the right product which people love, people will pay money to come and watch you. 

‘If Tottenham were playing Arsenal, it’s entertainment – people would come and watch that. Even if they didn’t support either team, they would still come and watch a good football match. 

‘These YouTubers are bringing excitement in our lives so I’m excited about that – I’m buzzing about that.’ 

BT Sport Box Office will show Tommy Fury v Jake Paul exclusively live on Sunday 26th February from 6:30pm. Learn more at btsport.com/boxing 

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