The cameraman wouldn’t have been criticised if he’d decided to pan to the most entertaining fight taking place at the Manchester Arena at 11pm on Saturday night.
The brawl taking place in the crowd during Tyson Fury’s comeback bout couldn’t possibly have been less competitive than the action in the ring as Fury toyed with opponent Sefer Seferi in what was a glorified sparring session.
Fury, who had been sidelined for 924 days before Saturday night, barely got out of second gear against Seferi throughout the headlining contest which was only ever going to have one outcome.
A punch was hardly thrown in the opening frame as the returning Fury focused on entertaining his adoring fans rather than trying to hurt Seferi, who was treated to a bizarre kiss from the undefeated Brit prior to the opening bell.
Such was the disparity in skill, Fury even managed to catch some of the fight which broke out in the stands during the second round because he knew full well that he wasn’t going to be touched by the Albanian fighter, who was outweighed by over four stone and quit on his stool before the fifth round.
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Fury’s promoter Frank Warren had made no secret of the fact that he intended to ease Fury back into the fight game and he was never going to be paired up with an opponent who would pose a significant threat.
But several fans were disappointed by the one-way nature of the contest and there’s only so long that Warren can keep handing ‘The Gypsy King’ tune-up bouts before the frustration gets the better of his supporters.