By Matt Lieberman: The World Boxing Council will be handing out their new WBC ‘Union belt’ to the winner of the Tyson Fury vs. Dillian Whyte fight at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
There’s no word yet whether there will be an extra sanctioning fee attached to the Fury-Whyte winner holding onto the WBC Union belt. If so, it’s a great deal for the WBC but not so much for the Fury vs. Whyte winner.
The unbeaten Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) will be making his second defense of the WBC title that he captured from Deontay Wilder in February 2020, and this could be one of Tyson’s toughest fights since his narrow win over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Whyte brings a lot to the table in terms of power, pressure, ruggedness, and an engine for this fight. Unlike Fury’s last two fights against Wilder, Whyte is going to be hard to deal with because he’s quite good at fighting in the brawling style that Tyson now uses.
Fury’s American trainer Sugarhill Steward revamped his game in his rematch with Wilder in 2020, changing him from a boxer to a pure slugger, who isn’t afraid to bend the rules every now and then with rabbit punches.
After saying nothing through the entire promotion, Whyte finally spoke for the first time on Wednesday, letting the boxing public know that he’ll be there for the fight against Fury on April 23rd.
Earlier today, Whyte took part in the media conference with Fury, letting fans know that he’s going to be ready to beat Tyson next week at Wembley Stadium.
Whyte will have a cheering sectionÂ
“It hasn’t been easy for him because Tyson Fury has been locked away in camp and Dillian Whyte hasn’t said anything,” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout about promoter Frank Warren.
“It’s still a big fight. Obviously, it won’t do the numbers that it would have done with a big eight-week build-up, but it’s still a very good fight.
“I haven’t envied Mr. Warren on this one. I’ve actually felt sorry for him quite a few times because it’s not easy to deal with people sometimes that don’t want to engage. I’m sure next week there will be fun & games,” said Hearn about the Fury vs. Whyte fight on April 23rd.
“I want to see Dillian Whyte win, whether that’s from the stands or my sofa, I’m sure I’ll be tuned in. Dillian has always had a fight-by-fight agreement with us because we’ve always been very loyal to each other.
“You can’t call him a Matchroom fighter on paper, but I call him a Matchroom fighter because we’ve both been a part of each other’s journeys,” said Hearn.
A victory for Whyte would potentially set up a massive fight against Anthony Joshua for later this year if AJ defeats unified heavyweight champion Oleksander Usyk in July.
