After nearly five years of waiting patiently as the Mandatory Challenger and WBC Interim world champion, Dillian Whyte aka ‘The Body snatcher’ has finally been given the chance to fight for a world title against the undefeated WBC, and The Ring heavyweight champion, ‘The Gypsy King’ Tyson Fury.
Negotiations for the fight were ordered last December by the WBC in a statement that read: “The WBC hereby orders the start of the free negotiations period pursuant to the WBC Rules and Regulations for the mandatory bout between WBC World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury and Mandatory Challenger and WBC Interim World Champion Dillian Whyte.”
Warren Beats Rival Hearn To Secure Rights To The Fight
A record $41million (£30.6 million) purse bid from Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions secured the rights to promote the fight, beating Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Promotions offer of $32 million (£24 million).
The fight is set to take place at the 90,000-seater Wembley stadium, tickets for the fight went on sale on Wednesday 2nd March and were sold out within hours. It will be Fury’s first fight on UK soil since 2018, after staging his last five bouts in the USA, and both fighters’ first appearance at Wembley Stadium.
This is arguably the biggest British heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis vs Frank Bruno back in 1993, as the winner of this fight is likely to face the winner of Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk’s rematch in an attempt to unify the heavyweight division/titles.
History Between The Pair
Having previously been sparring partners back in 2012 and 2013, both men claimed to have got the better of the other. In July 2019 Fury told Michelle Joy Phelps, “Dillian Whyte is a heavy bag on legs. I punched his head in for him plenty of times in the gym.” In an almost immediate reply (the next day) to hearing this, Dillian told Sky Sports News, “I can tell you now, that didn’t happen. I don’t like telling sparring stories, but people in the game know. They know about me well, me and Tyson Fury sparred and I bashed him about and dropped him on multiple occasions. Simple as that.”
Head-to-head.
Fury – Whyte
Nationality: British – British
Age: 33 – 33
Height: 6ft 9 – 6ft 4
Stance: Orthodox – Orthodox
Reach: 85’ – 78’
Record: 31-0-1 – 28-2-0
KOs: 22 – 19
Debut: 06/12/2008 – 13/5/2011
“I’m The Greatest Heavyweight Of My Era”
Fury’s professional record of 31-0-1, with 22 KOs, speaks volumes for a man who has fought and beat the likes of Wladimir Klitschko and both Deontay Wilder and Derek Chisora twice. With his never-say-die performances, boxing skills, power and unbeaten record, it is hard to refute his claim of, “I’m the greatest heavyweight of my era without a doubt. I can only beat whoever’s in my era and I’ve done that all my life.”
Having knocked out 19 of his 28 opponents, Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs) boasts a knockout record of 68% compared to Fury’s which stands at 70%. His two defeats came against Anthony Joshua back in 2015 and Alexander Povetkin in 2020. He avenged this defeat against Povetkin and reclaimed the WBC Interim World Champion title in the pair’s rematch which took place in March 2021.
Master Of Many Disciplines
The ‘Body Snatcher’ is a master of many combat sports, with a professional kick boxing record of 20 wins from 21 fights and a 100% (1/1) professional MMA record, Whyte has demonstrated a know-how of being adaptable whilst full of self-belief. “Fighting is something I do well, I’ve been mandated to fight him twice and he’s refused. I want to win the title. I want to fight Tyson Fury. They say he’s the greatest. So fighting him is the cherry on top of the ice cream sundae.”, Whyte told Fraser Dainton in an interview with Matchroom Boxing.
Rising East decided to visit Dillian’s first combat trainer Julian Howell during one of his kick boxing classes in Loughborough Junction, Brixton. Julian is a trainer, manager and promoter of Team Red Dragon and first worked with Dillian back in 2005, when a potentially wayward Dillian took up Julian’s offer to become serious about fighting and turn it into an art.
After sitting down to discuss the fight, Julian welcomed us to look around the gym.
Videoclip of Max taping up talking to camera re Dillian’s upcoming fight with Tyson Fury.
Videoclip – Mixed Martial Arts, Boxing and Kick boxing athletes training together during Julian Howell’s Friday night class. Dedication.
While at the gym we asked the training fighters who they thought would be victorious come April 23rd at Wembley…
Video clip of five fighters giving their predictions for the fight.
Former Cruiserweight World Champion and current Sky Sports presenter Johnny Nelson recently told ProBoxing-Fans.com during an interview on their YouTube channel, “Every fighter especially at this level is a threat… Tyson Fury has taken himself off social media to say, I have to concentrate on this guy. Dillian is a threat, he’s a serious threat. Dillian still has a lot to prove and this is the fight he’s got to do it.”
We shall have to wait and see what happens come fight night…