WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and his silent opponent Dillian Whyte have one month to go before they meet up next month on April 23rd at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
Surprisingly, the promotion of the event doesn’t appear to be hampered by Whyte’s decision to skip the press conference launch for the event.
If anything, the 34-year-old Dillian (28-2, 19 KOs) would have been the third wheel in the kickoff press conference, because Fury was in fine form. Had Whyte, it might have been a dampener of the festivities, especially if he was being an unsmiling sourpuss.
It’s predictable that Whyte won’t take part in any of the press conferences, and will only show up for the weigh-in and the fight. Those are two things that Dillian can’t skip out on, but you never know.
Is Whyte needed to sell the fight?
“In 1976, Muhammad Ali took a vow of silence against Leon Spinks, who had just won the Olympic heavyweight gold. He decided after eight fights there was nothing he could say about the guy,” said Gareth A.Davies to TalkSport Boxing in comparing it to Dillian Whyte’s silence.
“That vow of silence created more media coverage because they were waiting for [Ali to speak]. In the end, Ali took some tape off his mouth at the press conference. It’s a phenomenal thing to do,” said Davies.
“Tyson Fury went AWOL after he beat Wladimir Klitschko. I was there when he won on the night, but look at how he’s resurfaced again. He thought that was his Everest,” said Davis.
“I had a face-off with an imaginary Dillian Whyte. It was fantastic. I handled all the media singlehandedly usual,” said Tyson Fury to Max on Boxing.
“Whether they turn up or they don’t, the outcome is the same. They say three words and then they pass the mic over to me and I do the show, and that’s how it usually works,” said Fury about what his normal press conferences are like with his opponents that are speaking to the media.
“He [Whyte] didn’t even need to say words because he wasn’t here. So it was fantastic. There was a lot of media and massive, massive attendance here in London in the capital city. I think they were entertained and they got what they were looking for, to be fair,” said Fury.
Fury thinks Dillian chickened out
“Dillian Whyte is a top-five heavyweight, he’s not an unaccomplished heavyweight and he’s a good talker and a good promoter in his own right,” said Max Kellerman.
“This is going to be at Wembley Stadium and you’re going to have 100,000 people there. Why do you think he didn’t show up at the press conference?” said Kellerman about Whyte.
“Because he didn’t want Dr. X to get into his mind, and he was trying to think strategically where he didn’t have to face me and deal with all the vocal stuff,” said Fury.
“So, he didn’t turn up and by not doing that, he’s already let me in his mind completely because he was thinking of not letting me in, but I’m already in. I’m living in that mind. I’m like a small quiet voice in the back of a big empty place, that’s Dillian Whyte’s brain. Empty.
“I’m in there calling him every single day. ‘Come on, sucker. You can’t do this.’ I put a little bit of doubt on his shoulder, and every time he looks in the mirror, he thinks, ‘I can’t do it, I can’t do it.’
Tyson predicting quick knockout
“Then he faces ‘The Gypsy King,’ the legend. 6’9′”, 275 pounds in front of him, and he folds mentally, physically, emotionally and it’s a quick knockout,” said Fury.
“You’re predicting a quick knockout?” said Kellerman. “Because we’ve seen you box from the distance. You move like a lightweight, go to the Matrix on defense, but we’ve also seen you slug it out. But with this, you’re planning on a quick knockout?”
“Yep, I’m planning within six rounds. That’s quick for me,” said Fury in predicting an early stoppage of Dillian. “I think as soon as I land the Lancaster bomber on Dillian Whyte, it’s all over for him.
“Me personally, I know you say he’s a top-five heavyweight, but on achievements alone, he’s only ever won the British title and he won the Micky Mouse version of the WBC belt, some silver thing,” Fury said of Dillian.
“So that for me is an underachiever. All the years he’s been boxing, he’s won one belt really. The British heavyweight title years ago, and hasn’t done anything since.
“He goes on about the split and all that. He has the opportunity to make 8.4 million dollars, and he’s only ever made 250,000 in his life. He’s getting 33 times his biggest payday, and he’s telling me ‘it’s not enough.’
“I’m like, ‘Okay, crazy talk from a crazy man,'” said Fury.
“A lot of people would need a lot more than that to get in with you, champ,” said Kellerman.
“I’d take a lot less,” said Fury.
“For most of the 20th century, Americans dominated the heavyweight landscape,” said Kellerman. “In this new century, if you asked me to pick two countries that have dominated, it’s Great Britain and Ukraine.
“You won the heavyweight title from Wladimir Klitschko who had reigned for 10 years. Now the only other man with a claim to the heavyweight throne other than you is Oleksandr Usyk. He’s also Ukrainian.
“Wladimir is in Kyiv with his brother Vitali, who is the mayor, and Oleksandr Usyk also went back to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
“Do you have any thoughts about what’s going on with some of the greatest boxers in the world and heavyweight boxers in the world over there right now?” said Kellerman.
“Yeah, I hear Lomachenko is over there as well,” said Fury. “You don’t have to wield a gun and fire at somebody. I live by a couple of rules. Love your woman and fight for you’re country.
“People say, ‘Should they do this or do that?’ Of course, they should. It’s their country, and they’re fighting for their rights and what they believe in. Let them do it. If the war comes to America or the UK, I’ll be the first to sign up, that’s for sure,” said Fury.
“I wouldn’t do a vow of silence unless I was trying to blackout and do nothing,” said heavyweight Johnny Fisher.
𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡 ’til @Tyson_Fury‘s Wembley homecoming 👑
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— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) March 23, 2022