By Dan Ambrose: In a disappointingly one-sided fight, WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (32-0-1, 23 KOs) stopped a tired-looking Dillian Whyte (28-3, 19 KOs) by a sixth-round knockout on Saturday night in front of a large crowd at Wembley Stadium, in London, England.
Whatever chance the 34-year-old Whyte had of winning, he threw it out the window by choosing to fight out of the southpaw stance. Fury dominated the awkward-looking Whyte until knocking him out in the sixth round with a big uppercut.
After waiting 1000+ days for his title shot, Whyte underperformed and fought one of the worst fights of his career.
Undercard results:
- In the chief support bout, unbeaten domestic-level welterweight Ekow Essuman (17-0, 7 KOs) held onto his British & Commonwealth 147-lb straps with a 12-round unanimous decision over Darren Tetley (21-3, 9 KOs). The scores were 117-111, 116-112, and 116-112.
- Undefeated featherweight Nick Ball (15-0, 8 KOs) defeated fringe contender Isaac Lowe (21-2-3, 6 KOs) by a sixth-round TKO to capture the vacant WBC silver title. Lowe soaked up a lot of punishment and was hurt in the sixth, resulting in the referee stopping the fight. The contact was halted at 1:45 of the sixth. In the second, the 25-year-old Ball knocked Lowe down. Lowe showed very little defense throughout the contest.
- Undefeated heavyweight David Adeleye (9-0, 8 KOs) destroyed the normally durable journeyman Chris Healey (9-9, 2 KOs) by a four-round knockout. The 6’4″ Adeleye nailed the 282-lb Healey with a beautiful combination in the fourth, resulting in the referee Chas Coakley jumping in to top the slaughter. The time of the stoppage was at 0:52 of the fifth. Adeleye, 25, should be fighting better opposition than this if he ever hopes to develop beyond the domestic-level grade.
- Light heavyweight prospect Tommy Fury (8-0, 4 KOs) dropped little-known Daniel Bocianski (10-2, 2 KOs) in the fifth en round to win an unimpressive six-round points decision. The score was 60-54. The 27-year-old Polish fighter Bocianiski suffered a cut over his left eye. After the contest, Tommy, the half-brother of Tyson Fury, made it known that he wants to fight YouTuber Jake Paul. That’s a match that the fitness-fighter Tommy Fury has been after for ages. It’s unclear why the promoters included Tommy Fury on the undercard, as he’s not shown the kind of talent that suggests that he’ll ever be a contender at 175 let alone a world champion.
- Undefeated light heavyweight prospect Karol Itauma (7-0, 5 KOs) beat journeyman Michal Ciach (2-12, 1 KOs) by a second-round knockout. Itauma knocked Ciach down in the first and second rounds. The time of the stoppage was at 2:27 of round two.
- Super featherweight prospect Royston Barney Smith (2-0) beat winless journeyman Constantin Radoi (0-11) by a four-round points decision. The score was 40-36. This was another fight where you kind of shook your head, wondering what was going through the promoter’s minds to put this mismatch on the undercard of Fury vs. Whyte.
- In another super featherweight match-up, unbeaten Kurt Walker (2-0, 1 KOs) stayed unbeaten with a one-sided four-round decision over journeyman Stefan Nicolaie (3-32-2, 1 KOs). The score was 40-36. Again, you wonder why this kind of fight was lumped with the Fury-Whyte card.
Preview: Dillian Whyte getting his opportunity
“I think it’s very dangerous, especially that he’s locked himself away and I’ve seen Dillian Whyte progress over the last years,” said Lennox Lewis to iFL TV. “He’s basically at the top right now.
94,000 fans are expected to be in attendance tonight to see Fury fight for the last time or so he says.
“If he puts it all together today, he’s going to do good,” said Lewis bout Whyte. “He’s got one [title shot], and it’s better late than never. You just got to take advantage of the situation.
“This is a terrific situation that he’s in. It’s unbelievable because he would never think he would be in it, but with hard work and dedication, look where he is,” Lennox said about Dillian.
“He’s very serious and very focused. It should be a really good fight. There are a couple of things going on there,” said Lewis on Whyte choosing not to take part in the promotion of the contest with Fury unit the final week.
“I wish, he’d done a little bit of press. When you fight after fight, especially where Dillian comes with his history and what he’s gone through, I think he should have done the press because there are a lot of kids out there, and they want to hear from him.
“What did he do, how did he get here, and who is he? That would have got him a lot more press around the world. What that generates is into more money for his next fight.
“I think he should have did it, but he’s got to do what he feels is right. Sometimes when I was fighting, I didn’t feel like doing press. They had to kind of force me to do press. I was like, ‘Nah, they’re not taking away my focus.’
“Don King was great at doing that. He would put you through this press gauntlet, and by the end of it, you’d be really tired. By the time you stepped into the fight, you’d be mentally and physically tired because you did so much press. So, I can understand it from that point of view as well.
Fury will go right at Whyte
“I don’t take it as 100%,” said Lewis when asked about whether Fury is serious about retiring after his fight with Dillian. “I think he’s just saying that but sometimes I don’t believe he’s telling the truth. He’s going to do what he wants to do.
“If it was me, I think I’d stay and box for the undisputed. He’ll probably feel like that afterward. Listen, he’s the #1 heavyweight right now.
“He’s proven it to me. He actually holds my belt, the most prestigious belt out there, the WBC,” said Lewis. “He’s the man at the top right now. I think it’s going to be difficult for Dillian Whyte in the first few rounds to adjust, and I think in the middle rounds, he’ll adjust a little bit better.
“It’ll be a great fight up until then. I think Tyson has got a lot more bag of tricks that he may come out with. I don’t really know how Tyson is going to come out,” Lewis said.
“I’m going to guess he’s going to come straight at him and be right there in the pocket and box,” said Lennox. “Maybe he’ll try and knock him out because he realizes he’s got knockout power now, so he may try and knockout Dillian Whyte.
“Oh yeah, there’s always that possibility,” said Lennox about the possibility of Fury & Dillian having to get up off the floor at some point in the fight tonight.
“There’s always that possibility in heavyweight fighting and boxing. You never know what kind of drama is going to happen, and there’s always drama at a fight,” said Lewis.
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) puts his unbeaten record on the line against the upset-minded Dillian Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) tonight at Wembley Stadium in London.
Fury vs. Whyte will be televised stateside on ESPN+ PPV for $69.99, which some boxing fans are less than happy about given the lack of big names on the undercard. The event kicks off at 2:00 p.m. ET.