By Charles Brun: Dillian Whyte says WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury used an “illegal” two-handed push to aid his sixth-round knockdown, resulting in ‘Body Snatcher’ hitting the back of his head when he fell last Saturday night.
It’s unclear whether Whyte hit his head on the canvas as he maintains, as the Top Rank highlight on YouTube doesn’t include the knockdown for some odd reason.
It freezes and shows a still picture of Whyte on the canvas. ESPN’s replay doesn’t show the knockdown either. Again, it’s unclear why the most crucial sequence of the fight wasn’t shown.
Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) says the referee should have given him time to recover from the knockdown because it was caused in part by an illegal two-handed shove.
“When the uppercut landed, I was buzzed, and he proper full-on pushed me, and I fell over, and I hit my head on the canvas, which is illegal. This isn’t wrestling; this is boxing,” said Dillian Whyte to Sky Sports Boxing in reflecting on his sixth-round knockout loss last Saturday against Tyson Fury.
In looking at the replay, there was a clear two-handed push on Fury’s part, which toppled the hurt Whyte. Fury didn’t need to push Whyte.
The push was unneeded on Fury’s part, and it’s too bad that he deserted to this move to help him score a knockdown of Whyte.
Given that a push led to the knockout, one can understand where Whyte is coming from in feeling that he should have been allowed time to recover from the knockdown. After all, this isn’t big-time wrestling where fighters can shove their opponents to the canvas.
Fury’s fans likely aren’t going to feel sorry for Whyte, as they’re just happy their hero won. However, if you’re objective about it, Whyte probably should have been given time to recover because it wasn’t a simple one-handed push that Fury gave him.
Unfortunately, Fury used two hands to shove Whyte to the canvas, and if Dillian did hit his head, as he says, that might be why he was so hurt when he got back to his feet.
“But as usual, they let Tyson Fury do what he wants and get away with it,” said Whyte. “I should have been allowed extra time to recover and carry on fighting.”
Fury was doing a lot of wrestling in the fight, forcing Whyte against the ropes, and leaning on him without throwing punches. Whyte tried to get Fury to stop resting on him by tapping him in the back of the head, but it was no use.
The referee should have stopped his mauling tactics from Fury by peeling him off of Whyte because it looked like Fury was turning the fight into a wrestling match during those instances.
“He pushed me and then went and said to the referee, ‘Don’t let the fight carry on.’ I hope he doesn’t retire because I want another go,” said Whyte.
