In what claims to be the final fight of his 14-year career, Tyson Fury will defend his WBC and heavyweight titles on Saturday against interim champ Dillian White in London.
Few, of course, actually believe that 33-year-old Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) will quit forever, regardless of the outcome. However, the event is big enough (ESPN + PPV, 2pm ET) to secure the attention of the entire sporting world as the two megastars compete at home in front of a UK-record crowd of 94,000 at Wembley Stadium.
The fight will be the first time Fury has fought anyone other than former champion Deontay Wilder since 2019. It will be the first time Fury has returned to fight in the UK since his 2018 victory over Francesco Pianetta in Northern Ireland.
“Dillian White is a good fighter,” Fury said at his last press conference on Wednesday. “He is a good man, strong, solid. He is big and strong [and] it’s hard. He plays, he has good strength. He hit a lot of guys. He also had a good teaching career. He has great experience in fighting game. He is definitely a man who needs a lot of respect.
“That’s why I gave all this boot camp that we have. I had everything I could do to train for this. I didn’t leave any stones untouched. I trained as hard with Dillian as I have for Wilder or [Wladimir] Klitschko”.
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Fury had been hoping to battle unified champion Oleksandr Usyk to open the 2022 in a four-belt match for the undisputed title, but both Wyatt (28-2, 19 KOs) and former champion Anthony Joshua, who is expected to face Usek this summer, both rejected. Save money to make way.
Instead, the 34-year-old Whyte is expected to bring a solid challenge to the 6-foot-9 Fury with his 6-foot-4 frame, durability and punching power. White, who was born in Jamaica before emigrating to England, is 12-1 since losing in 2015 by knockout to Joshua and avenged one defeat – a devastating 2020 knockout knockout at the hands of Alexander Povetkin – by finishing in a rematch five months later.
Whyte has been a sparring partner with Fury in the past and earned the respect of a champion during a string of tough wins en route to the title contender against the likes of Dereck Chisora (twice), Robert Helenius, Lucas Brown, Oscar Rivas, Marius Wash and former champion Joseph Parker.
“[Whyte] He is a good fighting man. “Fans are waiting for real fun,” Fury said. I know Dilian. I know him personally and he knows me. And we’re going to rock ‘n’ roll on fight night. We’re willing to throw ourselves and treat us all into an inferno of a barn storm.”
White has been notorious for his wicked ways in the past, which has included pulling out of press conferences while protesting against his briefcase. He did a similar stunt on February 28 by not attending the opening press conference because he was upset about not getting a percentage of PPV sales as part of his deal.
The portfolios of this super fight are huge with Fury expected to make $29.5 million for a career best of $7.4 million for Whyte. The winner of the fight will also receive an additional $4.1 million, according to a negotiation between both fighters.
There was no strategy [in skipping the press conference,]There are two sides to his story, White said. You only hear one side of the story because one side says so many things. Because I didn’t say anything, everyone was saying “You’re afraid” and “You’re in hiding.” I’m not afraid of shit. I’m not hiding from shit. The things needed to get it done.
“[The fight] It means everything. It’s huge. It’s the moment I’ve been waiting for. It’s a big fight. Like Tyson said, we weren’t expecting to be here. But here I am, but I take risks again and again. I’ve had a few mistakes along the way, but here I am and I’m ready to go. You won’t hear any nonsense from me. I’m ready to go.”
White told reporters he needs to be adaptable in order to defeat Fury, who will have the advantages of five inches and another seven inches on hand.
“I’m going to make smart decisions, when I need to do what and how I need to do it, and how I need to handle what I’m doing,” Whyte said. “That’s it. There’s no strategy here. That’s it. I just need to go out there and do my job.”
Just below the main event is a very heavy British card with a lot of names that fans in the US haven’t seen yet. Eiko Isoman meets Darren Tetley for the ‘Commonwealth, British and European IBF’ welterweight titles on the line. Isaac Lowe is set to face Nick Ball for the vacant “WBC silver” featherweight title. David Adele and Chris Healy meet in heavyweight. And the biggest name on the bottom card is Tyson Fury’s half-brother, Tommy, who returns in a light heavyweight bout against Daniel Pocianski.
Below is the full fight pass for Saturday in England along with odds from Caesars Sportsbook. Plus, how do you watch the fight before getting to the prediction and choosing the main event.
Fight card, odds
- Tyson Fury (c) -575 vs. Dillian White +425, WBC Heavyweight Title
- Iko Isoman -1400 vs Darren Tetley +800, Walter Whites
- Isaac Lowe -135 vs Nick Ball +115, featherweight
- David Adele -6000 vs Chris Healy +1700, heavyweight
- Tommy Fury -3000 vs Daniel Bocianski +1300, light heavyweight
Information display
- Date: April 23 | start time: 2 p.m. ET (main event around 5 p.m. ET)
- location: Wembley Stadium – London
- Stream: ESPN + PPV | price: $69.99
prediction
Whether he was fired trying or eventually delivered the boom himself, Whyte has a history decorated against elite competition to get in and turn things into a fight. Looking at Fury’s comments before the fight, he seems to accept her inevitability, which is why his predictions have always been a knockout.
In many ways, Fury’s third fight against Wilder last fall was the perfect prerequisite for the challenge Whyte brings to the table. Although he came in after 18 months of layoffs due to the pandemic and had to get up from the canvas twice in Round 4 wild, Fury pushed through and held up well against an even bigger punch en route to a violent finish in Round 11.
The performance from Fury was part of his multi-year transition after his first fight against Wilder in 2018 when he abruptly cut ties with coach Ben Davison in favor of the more offensive SugarHill Steward, a pupil of his late uncle and Hall of Fame coach Emmanuel Steward of Detroit’s Kronk Athletic Club. Fury also took his father John’s advice to heart over weight gain as he weighed more than 20 pounds between Wilder’s first and third matches.
The main difference to Fury preparing for Whyte, unlike Wilder, is that Whyte is less primitive in terms of the technique he uses to prepare his power shots. Because of that, Fury would need to properly mix two styles as a boxer and boxer. And if his general workout this week is any indication, as he trained entirely from southpaw, it’s possible that “The Gypsy King” has a few wrinkles up his sleeve to keep Whyte guessing.
In the end, Whyte constantly pushes speed enough to where he or you are stopped. While this kind of challenge brings danger to Fury, it’s not something he hasn’t handled and the gap between them in terms of hand speed and technique should be enough for Fury to create a barrier for his powerful shots to come off cleanly.
picking Fury via TKO10
Who wins Whyte vs. And what brace should be restored? Visit SportsLine now to see Brandon Wise’s best bets for Saturdayall from the CBS combat sports specialist who crushed boxing picks in 2021, and he found out.
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