By Charles Brun: A day after his team won the purse bid, a jubilant WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is already hard at work training and promoting his still to be announced April 23rd title defense against mandatory Dillian Whyte.
Fury posted a clip of him on the road, running off the pounds, predicting a knockout victory over the 34-year-old Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs).
Tyson is a team player, working hard to promote his fight after his promotional team bid $41 million for his fight with Dillian. To make back that money and turn a profit, Fury and Whyte will need to work tirelessly to promote the event.
Top Rank and ESPN were forced to bid more than they otherwise would have due to Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing company trying hard to win the purse bid.
“Dillian Whyte, I’m going to knock you out, sucker,” said a badly out of breath Fury on Saturday.
In the next three months, the overweight Fury, 33, needs to lose a lot of weight to get down to close to the 277 lbs he weighed last October for his trilogy match against Deontay Wilder.
Since that victory, Fury has been eating well, packing on the pounds quickly, and looking nothing like the fighter that sent Deontay crashing down to his second career defeat.
Hearn says Whyte dangerous fight for Fury
Whyte will be dangerous for Fury, especially if he’s still feeling the aftereffects from his war with Wilder last October.
Fury was dropped hard twice by Deontay, and the only reason he survived to win was that Wilder gassed out after the fourth.
Along the way, Fury was given a gift in the fourth round when the referee seemed to count slowly after he’d been dropped a second time. Some boxing fans believe that Fury took 11 seconds before getting back to his feet and was given a classic long count.
It looked like he didn’t beat the count, but oh well, it’s not surprising that the fight wasn’t halted. If you saw Fury’s first fight with Deontay, this was fitting.
“It’s very dangerous for Tyson Fury, especially after all this because sometimes when you lose that opportunity,” said Eddie Hearn to Pro Boxing Fans when asked what his assessment is of Fury’s title defense against Whyte in April.
“He [Fury] could have fought for undisputed [against Oleksandr Usyk], and then he could have fought AJ. Instead, he’s fighting Dillian Whyte for much less money in a really tough fight, and Dillian will fancy it; he really fancies it. We’ll see,” said Hearn.
“Tyson Fury owes Dillian Whyte a fight; he’s the WBC’s mandatory challenger,” said Mike Coppinger to ESPN. “Then, of course, Usyk owes Joshua a rematch as part of the rematch clause for when Usyk beat Joshua in September.
“So, behind the scenes, they were trying to make a step aside deal [for Joshua], and I was told there was actually an agreement in principle for Dillian Whyte and Anthony Joshua to take big bags of money to basically step aside and allow Fury and Usyk to proceed with an undisputed heavyweight title fight in June in Saudi Arabia.
WHY Joshua & Dillian step aside deal collapsed
The combination of Joshua and Whyte wanting big step aside money and Fury reportedly insisting on a tune-up fight in March was the undoing of the deal to get AJ and Dillian to step aside.
Fury asking for a tune-up fight before facing Usyk tells you he didn’t fancy taking the battle.
“I’m told at the last minute in the eleventh hour that the parties involved attempted to renegotiate to get a little more money, and then the deal fell apart. So now we’re going to get Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte,” said Coppinger.
I’M GONNA KNOCK YOU OUT @DillianWhyte pic.twitter.com/pqAdMNibpT
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) January 29, 2022
“Nothing wrong with that. Fury faces a top-five heavyweight,” said Max Kellerman. “Fury defends his title against Whyte and then faces the winner of Usyk-Joshua or Usyk or Joshua? That works for me, to tell you the truth.
“So earlier this week, Tyson Fury, the heavyweight champ, with the best mic skills, if not the best boxing skills since Muhammad Ali, had to say the following about negotiations: “There’s a pack of cowards out there making all the demands in the world. You cowards, come and fight.”
“I love this guy,” Kellerman said of Fury. “That’s the heavyweight champion of the world calling out all the other heavyweights.
Joshua has a rematch with Usyk
Joshua will likely lose his rematch with Usyk, and he’ll then be faced with a challenging career decision. We’ll see if Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) wants to continue with his sagging career.
I guess Joshua will sack his training team for a second time, believing that if he goes with another coach, it will improve his chin and poor stamina.
The reality is, those areas won’t improve no matter who is the captain of Joshua’s sinking ship. You can’t change a weak chin and terrible stamina, no matter who coaches you.
“This is a talent-rich era of boxing right now; it sounds like we’re going to get Usyk and Joshua in the rematch, right?” said Kellerman.
“That’s the plan. Usyk still owes Joshua a rematch just like Andy Ruiz owed him one after he beat him,” said Coppinger. “It’s going to be hard for Joshua to win after we saw how Usyk looked [last September].
“This guy was the undisputed cruiserweight champion. He’s fleet of foot. That was not a close fight. I think Usyk could have knocked out Joshua if he had a few more seconds left in that [12th] round, but we’re going to see when that fight happens, probably spring in the UK.
“You have to assume that the winner of Fury-Whyte, which I suspect will be Tyson Fury. They’re trying to get a deal done there in anticipation.
“I want to go back to that step aside deal. Under that deal, Joshua was going to get a shot at the winner of Fury-Usyk in December in Saudi Arabia. Now, we’re going to see if Joshua can get past Usyk and get his heavyweight titles back,” said Coppinger.
