By Jack Tiernan: Dillian Whyte seemed to be in a state of denial after losing to WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury by a one-punch sixth-round knockout last Saturday night.
After the fight, Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) stated that he felt the contest was a “close fight,” and that he wasn’t “outclassed” by Fury.
Other than the sixth-round knockdown, there wasn’t a lot in the fight, as Whyte points out. Neither guy landed anything telling through the first five rounds of the contest.
Although Fury was clearly dominating with his jabs and right hands, he wasn’t beating up Whyte the way that Anthony Joshua did in 2015. Fury was slowly piling up rounds by outboxing Whyte, playing it safe, and not letting him land his powerful left hook.
The reality told a different story. Fury (32-0-1 23 KOs) dominated five of the six rounds and easily won the fight after landing a beautiful right uppercut in the sixth that sent Whyte crashing down back-first on the canvas.
If Whyte’s punch resistance were better, he would have gotten up and been no worse for wear. Unfortunately, the 34-year-old Whyte was too hurt to be allowed to continue after he got back up from the knockdown in the sixth.
It would have been tragic if Whyte were allowed to continue fighting in the physical state that he was in after getting back up.
“I don’t think there was a lot in the fight, it was a close fight. It was one slip and then I got caught with the shot. It is what it is, man. I didn’t feel like I was outclassed or he was this level and I was that level,” said Whyte to the BBC after his loss to Fury.
Whyte wasn’t outclassed by Fury the way Deontay Wilder was in their second fight, but he was never competitive. One never got the sense that Whyte was going to be able to mount a comeback after he fell behind early against Fury.
“I definitely do and these things are able to be seen out in the public,” said Fury’s trainer Sugarhill Steward to iFL TV. “It was electrifying but it still hasn’t hit me yet,” said Sugarhill basking in the glow of Fury’s sixth-round knockout of Whyte.
“In a couple of days, it’ll probably hit me when I’m watching it on TV and seeing the crowd from a different perspective. My adrenalin was still going, and being excited about the whole event in the fight and watching Tyson perform.
“Yeah, because he’s happy,” said Sugarhill, when asked if he’s ‘happy to see Tyson retire.’ “It doesn’t matter if he’s fighting or not to me. Like I say, he’s the knockout king of the division and king of the sport,” Sugarhill said of Fury.
