By Jack Tiernan: Tyson Fury says Dillian Whyte is in “dreamland” about his belief that he will beat him when or if the two of them fight. WBC heavyweight champion Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) says he’ll “NEVER” lose to Whyte.
Even though the World Boxing Council has ordered the Fury-Whyte fight this week, Fury says he’s unsure who he’ll face next. He says he’s had plenty of battles that he thought would happen but then failed to take place.
As of yesterday, there was still the possibility of Anthony Joshua stepping aside to let Fury to the fight with Oleksandr Usyk next. Personally, Fury, 33, says he doesn’t care whether he fights for the undisputed heavyweight championship because the belts don’t “define” him.
Joshua is the one that cares about becoming the undisputed heavyweight champ, says Fury. Still, Fury’s promoter Bob Arum cares about putting together the undisputed clash, and he would like to have him fight Usyk next before having him face Joshua as the four-belt champ.
Fury says Whyte will “NEVER” beat him
“Listen, if the fights can be made, they can be made, and if they can’t, they can’t,” said Tyson Fury to iFL TV on him needing to face Whyte next rather than Usyk.
“I don’t really look into it because I’ve had that many fights fall through in the last twelve months,” Fury said. “God knows who I’m fighting next.
“I was supposed to fight Joshua last summer, but Wilder broke the arbitration case, and I had to fight Wilder. So it’s really unimportant to me who is the opponent is, as I’ve said many times.
“I think he’s trying to sell a fight, but can he beat me? Never in his wildest imagination dreamland, no way,” said Fury when told that Dillian Whyte has been calling him a “p****” and that he feels he’ll defeat him.
It’s way too early to know who Fury will be fighting next because so many things could happen. Besides the possibility of Joshua stepping aside, Fury or Whyte could get injured. Whyte was hurt recently with a shoulder problem; if the injury was genuine, that’s something that could happen again.
Shoulder injuries are the toughest to come back from for a fighter. In boxing, the shoulder is the equivalent of the knee in professional football.
Once a fighter’s shoulder goes, that’s pretty much it for them. Unless the boxer can battle with one good arm, their careers go belly up.
Again, the fans don’t know if Whyte’s shoulder problem is real or if it was something that he made up to avoid a dangerous fight that he’d been scheduled to take against Otto Wallin on October 30th.
If it’s a real shoulder problem, Whyte may not make it through training camp for a Fury fight unless he decides to go through with the match injured.
Tyson doesn’t care about being undisputed
“I don’t give a f*** about the belts. I’ve told you that many, many years ago,” said Fury when asked if he wants the Oleksandr Usyk fight so he can capture all the titles at heavyweight.
“Joshua was all bout being undisputed. ‘I want to be undisputed. I’m a little p****, and I care about that sort of thing.‘ For me, I care about fighting whoever is there. I don’t really care if it’s for a million belts.
“I’m the WBC, Ring Magazine, and lineal champion. That’s all I care about. The rest of them, I’m really not interested, to be fair. Unifications, whatever it is, mean nothing to me. I’ve already won all them belts, and the WBC is the best out of all of them. So a big shout-out to the WBC.
“I’m the greatest fighter of our era, so being undisputed really doesn’t mean anything to me,” Fury said. “It’s all a crap to sell a fight. If I didn’t have any belts and if me and AJ had a fight, would it be a s*** fight or a good fight? The belts DON’T define me; I define them.
“If I never had a belt, I’d still be #1 in the division. When I never had a belt, I was still the lineal champion. That doesn’t have a physical belt, but I’m still the best,” said Fury.
World title belts matter for unknown fighters without a large fan base. Once a boxer becomes super popular like Fury, having belts works against them because it traps the champions in low-level fights against no-name opposition that bring nothing to the table.
That’s why it’s foolish for famous fighters to hold a bunch of belts or any titles for that matter. They’re better off having a trinket title that doesn’t require them to make mandatory defenses against unpopular fighters.
If Fury had his head on straight, he’d toss his WBC title straight away and tell Whyte to get lost. Fury doesn’t need the WBC title because he’s already viewed as the best.
Fury could face anyone he wanted white waiting for Oleksander Usyk and Anthony Joshua to have their rematch without the WBC title.
Fury NOT expecting to retire anytime soon
“Plenty,” said Fury when asked how many rights he has left in him,” said Fury. “I’m young, fresh, handsome, good looking, and still fresh as a razor. So, yes, I still have plenty of life left in an old dog.
“I’m 33, not 63, and we’ll see. I’m taking one fight at a time. Maybe one or maybe ten, who knows?” said Fury.
Fury doesn’t react well after beating high-profile fighters; he gets stuck living off the victory rather than moving on from it. We saw what happened after Fury defeated 40-year-old Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Rather than putting things in perspective and realizing that Wladimir was old and shot, Fury made a big deal out of his win, believing he beat a prime Klitschko and sitting around celebrating for three years.
If Fury defeats Usyk or Joshua, he could react in the same way, believing that he just beat the best rather than two flawed guys that were never great, to begin with.
